Love Survive! School Idol Mafia!
by DWalkthroughGuy
Summary: Despite winning Love Live and saving their school from closure, Otonokizaka High is now out of the frying pan and into the fire. Honoka soon discovers the underground criminal schoolgirl operations working right under their noses threatening them once more. Joining forces with arms dealers, drug smugglers and a school like them, µ's unites to save their school one more time.
1. All For Naught

The pink snow coming from the trees scattered among the floor as Honoka and her two best friends swish them aside during their commute. It had been a while since their upperclassmen had graduated, and all the tears had been cried out now. Even then, the atmosphere seemed a little dismal. It didn't feel the same without Nico, Eli and Nozomi.

"How long do you think the school's going to last after this?" Kotori asks, using her right foot to play with a stray red pebble. Honoka chuckles, but says nothing.

"Hopefully long enough for everyone to graduate normally. Who knows how long it'll take anyone to get that far again?" Umi admits. It indeed was a long time. They managed to get through it anyways, but they doubt such an amazing feat could be replicated by another group. μ's relied a lot on luck and charm to get their way up the ranks, not that that was always a bad thing. "Think someone's gonna try to claim our throne?" Umi remarks sarcastically. Honoka laughs this time.

"Who knows? That one blonde from the primary school's probably gonna try it out," the redhead comments. She waves at a car as the triad cross an intersection. Umi looks at her, confused.

"Who?"

"You mean Alisa? Eli little sister?" Kotori mentions. The red pebble ricochet's off of a lamp post and back under Kotori's feet, stopping their walk momentarily.

"I doubt she'll gain any traction," Honoka says coldly, glancing at the little pebble for delaying their walk to school.

"Honoka! That's mean!" the brunette berates her friend lightly. Umi was the one to laugh.

"Well, I can't disagree with that," the archer remarks. "It's not like competition's getting lighter."

"It's amazing we got that far in the first place..." Honoka thinks back to the first dance practice she ever had. It was by herself, doing basic rhythmic steps, but they were the first steps to a journey she never imagined undertaking. They could've made a local bakery, or started an e-sports team, or participated in sensha-dou, but this was the one Honoka stuck with. Dying, desperate schools seemed to be common around Japan.

"How do you think those three are doing now?" Honoka says out of nowhere, her thoughts absorbed deep in her own memories of her upperclassmen. "I mean, do you...ever talk to them?" The whole group falls silent as they wait for the green light.

"...I don't know about the other girls, but..." Kotori trails off, hinting at the feared inevitable. The death of μ's was the one thing they have been and continue to bury deep within their minds in hopes of forgetting about it. But somehow, whenever they reach into their memory for an event, or think about anything in the past two years, the gravestone of μ's always resurfaces, one way or another. The three silently continue their walk up to the school gates.

Kotori kicks the rock at an angle and finds its way in the middle of traffic. "Nico's taking it the hardest."

"I would assume so," Umi says. "Maybe after we all graduate we can be idols again." Despite saying that, the atmosphere remained unchanged. There was just something about being a school idol that would have its charm taken away if they were regular idols instead.

* * *

The three girls congregate outside during lunch. Without forcibly restraining herself, Honoka bites down happily into her bread. The two around her ask Honoka how she manages to afford that much bread, to which she responds with an indifferent shrug. While the reward for Love Live was nothing impressive, Honoka and the rest of μ's weren't "poor" anymore because of it. Kotori and Umi believe this is Honoka's way of showing that μ's won Love Live, or that Honoka just like's bread.

Before Honoka got a chance to argue her point, the school-wide intercom rang throughout the school. The one behind the microphone was the chairwoman. "Students of Otonokizaka High," she spoke with a stern, emotionless, cold voice. Knowing her, Kotori knew something was up. All previous activity around the school froze. It was eerily punctual, almost as if time suddenly froze with the sound of the intercom.

"I am, saddened to inform you once again, that the school is undergoing the process of consolidation once more." The chairwoman's voice was surprisingly calm given the situation. The presently upperclassmen of μ's were now the center of attention, almost as if the students around them were expecting a violent reaction, with Honoka shaking her fist at the microphone and requiring the rest of the group to restrain her. All they got were expressions of confusion. "I understand that there might be some questions among you that need to be answered. This is why the Student Council will be having a meeting after school in order to discuss this matter. I repeat, the Student Council will be having a meeting after school in order to discuss this matter."

Honoka, being the Student Council President, already had plenty of responsibilities. This would just have to be another one of them. She stared blankly ahead. "What's wrong, Honoka?" Kotori whispers to her friend. Unsurprisingly, Honoka started to tear up. Wiping her eyes with her sleeves, she collects herself.

"It's okay."

The redhead repeats the mangry of denial to herself over and over again. It was hard on the remaining μ's members, and the ones that graduated would most likely be disappointed as well, but they all knew that Honoka would be the most affected of them all. She had worked the hardest, the one that did what the others didn't, and saved the school in numerous desperate struggles. Nevertheless, it all didn't mean anything. It simply prolonged the death of the school, rather than save it.

"Come on, Honoka," Umi says, motioning Kotori to help her take Honoka to the idol research club meeting room.

"Are you gonna be alright, Honoka?" Kotori pats Honoka's back gently as Umi brings her a tin of tea. The shock from the announcement had still gripped Honoka into a frozen state, unable to say or move if she wasn't directed by her friends. They were expecting her to burst out of emotion any moment, but she remained still. Gradually, but eventually, she began to cry.

Her crying led to sobbing, and her sobbing led to bawling. The others around her were beginning to cry as well, but Honoka was growing out of control. "Honoka, please, I know it's hard, but don't-" Umi was cut off by the now raging Honoka.

"And what are they gonna do about it, huh? What can they do? We're powerless, we're nothing. Everything we did was useless, all useless..." Umi stands up.

"Honoka, understand that you aren't the only person angry about this. We don't know, we might be able to fix it!"

"How? How can you just brush off the fact that everything we worked up for until now was just a waste of time?" Kotori joins in, wishing to stop the conversation if it ever turned into an argument. "And now μ's is gone! We can't fix it anymore!"

"Now, we saved the school, even if it was just for a year, we-"

"They don't get it. Two whole years of my life I could have...I could have put to something useful. Something else where I could have made a difference, but I...they...someone..." Honoka realized that she was trying to find someone to blame, something to pin the crime on. "I wasted my own time." Umi's eyes narrowed even further, slamming the table and lightly rattling everything on it. Kotori was taken back with surprise, but Honoka didn't react, knowing that this was going to be the same as when they failed to join Love Live last time.

"Stop feeling bad for yourself, Honoka. How many times do I have to repeat myself? You think you're the only one that worked for this?" Umi yells back, causing Honoka to shrink deeper into her seat. "I can't believe you'd just give up at the drop of a hat. Like last time. Please, Honoka. Get a hold of yourself." Umi walks out the door, leaving the two alone in the club meeting room.

"Honoka..." Kotori began, but stopped herself, realizing that the former needed time alone.

* * *

The school bell rang, and the Student Council convened at the meeting room like they had been for the past few months. The Student Council had been the only serious thing Honoka was working towards other than µ's, but now she felt unprepared. Was she going to have to deliver a speech? How come she wasn't notified of the school shutting down so abruptly? Looking out the window, Honoka saw the students leave in confusion. It struck her as odd how none of them were angry, or despondent. 'It's just me, isn't it?' she thinks to herself.

As always, she was about fifteen seconds late. Everyone had already sat down when Honoka entered the room. This time, she didn't force herself to hold a furtive expression. "Honoka," the chairwoman spoke. Honoka bowed in apology.

"I apolo-"

The chairwoman dismisses her with a wave of her hand. By the look of it, the chairwoman didn't look very pleased. Not at Honoka, but at the situation. "Come, sit. There's no time to waste."

'This isn't like her...' Honoka thinks, taking an awkward empty chair in the corner of the room.

"We're here to discuss the closure and consolidation of the school," the chairwoman begins the meeting. "There isn't much time left before the new management comes in and takes my place, but keep in mind that all students are permitted to remain. They will have to re-enroll for the next term, however." A stray hand in the circle flies up.

"Yes?"

"Do we know who the management taking over will be?" The chairwoman sighed miserably.

"Yes. UTX will be taking Otonokizaka property as their own." A low murmur started within the bunch. "Now, keep in mind, this isn't the first time that UTX has done this. They're expanding their territory outside their main complex. This is not a personal move, it's simply business." Everyone reluctantly agreed. Another hand rose from the crowd.

"How much time are we given to move on?" a student asks with anxious eyes.

"Until the end of this term." The murmur rose to a frenzy in a matter of seconds. There was only a month left. How come they weren't given enough time to prepare?

"Mrs. Chairwoman," Honoka says, freezing the frenzy in place. All eyes were on her. "If I remember correctly, this is against school protocol." The chairwoman sighs again, nodding in confirmation.

"Correct. It is against school protocol for this kind of ordeal to take place with only a month in advance. But, please, understand, that this matter is beyond my power." Honoka raised an eyebrow.

"Beyond your power? You run this school. Surely you had a choice of whether or not it was handed over," Honoka replies. The students around her sat down and looked in anticipation at the chairwoman. Honoka sounded peculiarly calm and intelligent under such duress.

"I..." For once, the chairwoman's professional attitude was left in shambles. She looked nervous, her eyes darting back and forth at each student, who returned the same look of anticipation. "W-Well, I can't help the budget if it doesn't cooperate..."

'Stammering, huh?' Honoka thought to herself. She wanted to just roll over and give up, but she wouldn't let herself do it. Everything she had worked for was riding on keeping the school alive, and this moment. "So there was money involved in this as well?" The chairwoman knew that she was in a corner.

"We've always...had this issue, Honoka. UTX will take care of this school...and..." None of the students were buying it. If they wanted to go to UTX, they would have gone there. They knew that the tuition would skyrocket, the culture would change, and all hopes of a quiet, normal, old-fashioned high school would be gone. They wanted this school and this school only.

"Anyways, all clubs will be preparing to conclude their activities and projects as we begin to shut down the school-"

"You can't do this to us!" One of the students shouted across the room. Their sudden voice cracked the tense air, and the room was back into its chaotic state. Everyone yelling over each other, some of them angry, others sad, but most of them confused. Honoka sat there in her seat, waiting for the frenzy to die down. She wasn't done with the chairwoman yet.

"Everyone, please!" The chairwoman's warnings and attempts of recollection were futile. With the world falling apart at the seams, the chairwoman jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Although she couldn't hear her, the chairwoman read Honoka's lips.

"Why?" The chairwoman's expression was blank and unfeeling, as if the stress had finally mentally broken her to the point where emotions no longer exist. Perhaps she was exaggerating. The moment her eyes met Honoka's, her empty eyes were filled with fear. Her pleading expression was confirmed with her,

"I'm very sorry."

The chairwoman stood up, and the entire Student Council froze again. The legs of her chair squeaked noticeably in the silence. Slowly, she walked out the door. "Meeting adjourned."

* * *

 **A funny little idea I came up with one evening and decided to double down on making. I got some other irons in the fire as well, and I'm not forgetting my ongoing stories. Haven't published something in ages, but it's summer vacation here, so, I'll try my best.**

 **Another note: While the story is currently set after the third-years graduate in Otonokizaka, Aqours is also here in the same time as presented in Love Live Sunshine.**

 **Thanks anyways,  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	2. Two Sides

"What?!"

Kotori exclaimed it, leaving Umi and Honoka in silence, but for different reasons. They were walking home as usual, but all of the girls were different. "M-Mom would never..."

"Come on, Kotori. This isn't just about money," Honoka says. "Something else is up. I can sense it." Umi sighs.

"I know you always have these crazy ideas, but, Honoka-" Honoka stops in the middle of their walk, forcing them all to stand in place. It had begun to rain. Honoka's eyes were set to the clouds.

"I don't know how, but I'll prove it." The others had already deployed their umbrellas, and were standing next to their friend, who was starting to cry again. "I'll prove it, and I'll do anything it takes to stop it. Even if it means I have to fail Love Live again and again!"

"Honoka, come on...this isn't the place to break down like this..." Umi slung Honoka's right arm over the former's shoulder, propping them both up appropriately. Awkward glances from across the street were cast their way. "Let's get out of this rain..."

* * *

They were sitting awkwardly around the table in Honoka's room, silently waiting for her to say something. Every once in a while, Umi and Kotori would cast defensive glances at Honoka, as if she was going to burst out any moment, and then glance at each other in anxiety. They felt like they were sitting next to a ticking time bomb that none of them could defuse.

Honoka mumbles, catching them all by surprise. "I think we need to figure out why she's closing the school." Umi sighs, not wanting to repeat herself. Kotori fully understood as well, and didn't want to hurt their friend. "Come on, I know one of you agrees with me. Kotori?" The sound of her name catches her by surprise.

"Huh?"

"I can't be the only one seeing something deeper. Umi?" Umi started to say something, but stopped herself. Perhaps this was another one of Honoka's delusional spells of denial. Something about this one felt different, something eerie behind it enough to make Umi shiver. She felt a deadly seriousness emanating from Honoka's voice. Honoka wasn't desperately clawing for someone to take her side, she was searching for the truth, a truth she gravely knows is there.

A part of Umi wanted to believe her, and not just so Honoka could calm down, but Umi risked falling into another endeavor she fears she will regret. Yet again, she went along with the school idol group, and yet that was arguably one of the best experiences she's had in her life. Perhaps this adventure, whatever it may entail, might not be as bad.

Honoka took their silences and intent stares as an invitation to explain herself. "I just found it interesting that UTX is a part of this. Why would they be interested in this part of town?"

"Maybe because it's an old competitor?" Kotori suggests. Honoka nods, but isn't satisfied with the answer. Somehow, Umi and Kotori felt that nothing was going to answer her question.

"It still doesn't explain why there's such a need for money. We shouldn't be at the verge of giving up the school because 'we're out of money'," Honoka's voice didn't sound natural. At this point, the other two had given up trying to reason with her. Honoka may be determined, but she can also be stubborn as a result. Honoka's emotional grip was strong, and denial was certainly pulling her strings at the moment. Kotori and Umi wordlessly decided that she be best left alone.

"U-Uh...sorry, Honoka, but, I have to get to my archery..." Umi excuses, motioning Kotori to do the same.

"I have...to go too..." How unrealistic it sounded didn't matter. Honoka realized she was rambling.

"S-Sorry..." Before their sense of belonging got a hold of them, the other two excused themselves and hurriedly left in unison. Their silence was enough to lock Honoka up by herself.

Soon enough, Honoka found herself with her friends the next morning. The tense, awkward air forced them to the brink of fleeing from each other. Umi looked at Kotori for support, but the latter shrugged her shoulders in silence. Maybe Honoka was right about this, or maybe Kotori and Umi were just being too nice to her. The walk to school, usually bursting with excited conversation talking about anything they could possibly think of turned into a dismal silence.

* * *

"Hey, Honoka, wake up! Class is over!" The redhead's senses slowly reactivated as she felt Kotori's gentle but stern grip shaking her awake. "Come on, I thought we were done with being idols. How can you just sleep like this?" Honoka's hand reached around and grabbed Kotori, using her as a sort of rail to get on her feet.

"S-Sorry about that, Umi..." Before objecting, Kotori stops herself, noting her friend's current vegetative state.

"I know you're always procrastinating, so we better get to the student council room and finish up the papers for-" Kotori tugged on her friend's arm, motioning the latter to follow her, but Honoka didn't budge from her spot. There was no doubt Honoka was wide awake at this point, but her silence scared Kotori. After a moment of silence and a depressed sigh, Honoka followed Kotori out of the room and into the office Nozomi and Eli used to inhabit. Of course, all of their things had been cleaned by the time Honoka took Eli's place, but there's no doubt she could feel their presence every once in a while.

Midway through their work, Honoka asks Kotori, "Kotori, do you know where the Tennis Club budget spreadsheet is?"

"Sure..." the latter responds with unconvincing enthusiasm. Being left in a room with a somewhat angry, somewhat sad Honoka while Umi was gone didn't leave the best impression of security for Kotori. Handing Honoka the chart, Honoka looks it up and down to confirm it was the right sheet and stops herself. "Wh-What? Is it the right one?"

"Y-Yeah...I just wondered..." Kotori thought Honoka was going to let it go, but, much to her dismay, Honoka says,

"Why has the budget not gone down...at all?" Kotori nervously smiles and laughs, not wanting to get involved. But, judging by Honoka's expression, she knew that the redhead wasn't letting it go. "Wait, look, the budget for the Tennis Club has only gone up since...since this February!"

Kotori glanced at the bottom of the table and, sure enough, the total allocated budget for the Tennis Club has indeed increased, much higher than the ordinary threshold of a club activity. Honoka grabs another budget spreadsheet. The Art Club also followed a similar increase in funds. So did the Computer Club, and the Swim Club, and so on. Every club was steadily given more and more each progressive month. Even Kotori found it peculiar.

"Then why don't they ever say anything about it? Aren't clubs one of the first things funds are reduced? We can't be the only ones that found this out," Kotori asks, genuinely curious for herself. Honoka's eyes went wide with an opportunity to fit her conspiracy theory into this.

"It's because the school's being extorted by UTX!" Kotori wanted to laugh, she really did, but the utter graveness on Honoka's face would kill the mood. "How come they never feel the effects of their club budget being increased then? Don't they just keep asking for us to up it a little more every time we all meet?" As right as Honoka was, Kotori wasn't ready to believe that they were being forced to bankruptcy, especially out of a respectable establishment like UTX.

"What do you mean it doesn't make sense? Haven't you heard? UTX took two more schools in neighboring prefectures, just this week! Please, Kotori. Think about it. They're growing and growing, but when will they stop? They're taking all of Japan now-"

"I-I really don't think..." Kotori quieted down when she noticed that Honoka wasn't going to be listening to her. The latter was in deep rumination, her eyebrows furrowed in thought and her hand holding her chin.

"Proof."

Kotori looked up from the work she resumed. "Huh?"

"You want proof, don't you?" Kotori sheepishly grins again, resounding an obvious "yes". "Very well. I'll give you proof."

"And how do you suppose you'll do that?" The sharp sound of Umi's slightly disgruntled voice caught them both by surprise, but Honoka's tone didn't waver. "I totally forgot we had this to do, sorry to abandon you guys like that." While Kotori forgave Umi, Honoka cut in.

"Just give me this one chance, and I'll prove to you that UTX has something to do with it." With eyes of skepticism and doubt, the two reluctantly listened to their former idol leader.

* * *

"A-Are..." Much to their surprise, Honoka's wacky plan did manage to leave them speechless.

"Well...I don't know, my mom doesn't really like to talk about business to me that much."

"And on top of that, why would we do something like that?" Umi adds, making Honoka sigh, acting as if it was the two of them that didn't understand her, rather than the other way around.

"It's not...illegal. It is for the greater good, isn't it?" Honoka replies. Umi fumes.

"Don't even think that you can pull something so ridiculous like that on-"

"Come on, just this one chance. This one chance and I'll stop bothering you again. I'll never mention UTX and their plans of world domination ever. Please? I know I can do this!" Just by the pleading sound of her voice, Umi already doesn't trust her. Whenever the redhead gets desperate, she tends to depend on the mercy of others to get her way. Not today, despite how tempting the thought of her returning to reality felt.

"Kotori, think really hard about this. Are you sure the end goal is meeting the intended purpose? What if it fails? Then what? Don't you see the disparity between the risk and the reward?" Umi urged the brunette to make the right decision, but what the right decision is unfortunately didn't fall into Umi's hands.

"Uh..." Kotori always had a small inclination to do investigative work since she was a little kid. Other than fashion designing, the thought of solving mysteries with minimal evidence and meager hints piqued her interest. But this was different. This wasn't the case of who ate the pudding, or where the toy went. "Well...I..."

Yet again, she wants to know more herself. Honoka wasn't the only one that wanted to find the truth behind the situation. Perhaps she wasn't willing to acknowledge the opportunity to find the truth in fear that she would fail, or that she wouldn't be trying hard enough, or that she would be caught in a downward spiral to crime. After all, Kotori's academic situation was at a tense tightrope at the moment. Was doing this worth it in the end? Was she doing it for the greater good and discovering the truth, or for herself?

"I...I'll do it..." Situations in which Kotori had to choose sides were very slim. The thought of leaving her school, the pressure by Honoka, the mental state of her friend and her dream of investigation had all played a part of her decision. Obviously, her indeciveness and the hot glare from Umi made her regret her choice immediately, but what's said's been said.

Umi slams her hand down. "I'm not letting this happen. You both know it." Despite her anger between both Honoka and Kotori, she put her friends above anything. The last thing she wanted them to do was to hurt themselves. "Please, listen to yourselves for a minute! Do you realize what you're making yourselves do?" she says desperately. Despite her friend's desperation, Honoka was too deep into her fantasy to listen. Was it just her fantasy that was blinding her, or something else?

Kotori and Umi leave a while after Honoka does. The two best friends were by themselves in front of the school, the sunset reminiscently glinting on the windows. "I'm not going to be friends with a criminal," Umi says flatly, staring forward at the ground as she kept walking. It felt strange, suddenly transitioning from begging her friends to suddenly denouncing them. Kotori wasn't sure if she meant it at first, but Umi was dead silent. "You either choose me or Honoka. I'm not putting myself through this. Not anymore."

Kotori was left alone as her friend walked off to the street. Umi felt bad about this too, her pace turning into a heavy trudge, who had gone from pleading her friends to stop to detaching herself from them. Kotori had never had such a grave fate put upon her like this. First, μ's was disbanding, now her one circle of friends might be as well. Her mind was racing with only one question in her mind.

"Did I do the right thing?"

* * *

 **I've been asked what kind of mafia this story was based around. If any of you have seen _The Godfather_ (and if you haven't, you should), this is more of what this is going for. An underground, organized, Sicilian syndicate. This one is a little more goal-based however, as you will see later on.**

 **Thanks anyways,  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	3. First Operation

Honoka was standing outside the school office, leaning against the wall. She looked calm in the outside, waiting coolly outside for her friend, but her nerves refused to die down. School and club activities had ended over fifteen minutes ago. The sound of soft, fluttering footsteps echoed in the corridor. In Honoka's anxiety, the echoes turned into earthquakes. Honoka snaps her head to the source of the steps. It was Kotori.

"A-Alright. Ready?" Judging from the tone of her voice, Honoka wasn't the only nervous one. Kotori's voice had a tinge of regret neither of them could notice. Honoka had in her hands a mask from the theater club room and a pair of black gloves. "I know it's...a little overboard but..." Honoka considered it, and complied in the end. She couldn't risk losing what little she had left after μ's disbanded.

"She should be in there...I'll get her out," Kotori says almost inaudibly, opening the door slowly. The _click_ of the door handle rang throughout the entirety of the school. This was the moment Honoka realized that there's no turning back. They either go through with this or not.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step," Honoka's mother plays in her head. Tightening her fist, she vowed to never back down, as long as she and Otonokizaka stood.

But was resolving that that easy?

The door closes and Honoka returns to reality. Choosing an inconspicuous part of the hallway, she waits outside as she listens to the muffled conversation of Kotori and her mother. A moment of contemplation passed before the door finally swung back open. "Yeah, over in the gym somewhere," Kotori urges, her mother, the chairwoman, following closely behind. "Oh, hey Honoka," Kotori huffs as she brushes past the redhead. The one glance Honoka received was one of pleading fear. Kotori pleaded that Honoka would do this right, praying that she would follow through. Kotori had already risked Umi's friendship for this.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Miname," Honoka nods respectfully to the chairwoman, who nods briefly in return. Honoka walks past them and catches the door just before it closes. After checking both directions, she slips inside the office, slipping on the mask which thankfully covered her hair and shut the door behind her.

* * *

Honoka takes a deep breath as she oversees the office. She had been in here numerous times, all to confront either the student council, the chairwoman or both. Sometimes she stood with her friends, sometimes she stood alone. Months of nostalgia all came flooding in a span of seconds. After glancing quickly at the room, she concluded that there weren't any hidden surveillance cameras. Before she had a second to think about the lack of security, she takes her mask off. Honoka takes another deep breath before walking behind the desk. Now was the hard part.

She rifles through each filing cabinet, or at least, each one that didn't require a key. They were mostly student files and government papers; nothing of interest. Honoka kept searching, but as each file cabinet was closed, she could've sworn a footstep was outside the door. She resolved to stop pausing to check for ambient sounds unless it was for sure. After covering the entire wall and the desk cabinets, she had nowhere else to look. She thoroughly checked each file carefully, being sure to meticulously double check the titles of the files and the composition of the paper. Nothing seemed to be important. Maybe she kept evidence at home. Instead of feeling an overwhelming dread, she sighed in preaccepted defeat. Honoka half expected something like this to happen. She'd just have to find another way next time, whenever that would be.

Honoka decided she'd sit down on the chair just for the fun of it. Kotori wouldn't return for a while, Honoka figured, and thought that she'd at least feel the chair while she was here. If she was caught, there was nothing to lose. Honoka already had an excuse figured out.

"They sure are taking a while..." Honoka muses, sorting some of the papers on the desk in front of her. That's when she saw it. A formal letter adressed to Otonokizaka from UTX high school. The whole time she had searched, and the answer was right in front of her. Quickly falling silent to check for footsteps, she delves into the letter. She was only skimming, but it was proof enough. This wasn't a professional letter, this was a desperate note.

"'ask for the rights of the property else we take legal action to do...'" Honoka kept reading, not caring anymore if anyone was catching her. Then it hit her. Otonokizaka wasn't closing due to insufficient financial funds. They were being extorted.

"I got it..." Honoka smiles, wondering why something so confidential was laying out in the open like this. Perhaps Kotori made a convincing enough of an emergency to abandon whatever the chairwoman was working on. "Thanks Kotori, whatever that emergency is," Honoka whispers, taking multiple pictures with her phone. Standing up and cleaning up the place, she hurriedly leaves the office, checking the coast and then closing the door silently behind her as best she could. Before Honoka took some time to reflect on the reason behind it, she immediately runs for the exit, not wanting to risk getting caught.

* * *

"I got it!" Honoka jumps as she exits the school, holding her phone proudly in the air. The feeling of victory surged over her. She texts Kotori an unobtrusive and innocent message acting as a signal of success. Once the feeling faded away and she got home, Honoka thought of what this meant. The school being extorted by one of the most influential and largest educational powerhouses in all of Japan? Why would they need to do that?

Honoka decided to send this to all of her friends, even Nozomi, Eli and Nico. While Eli was back in Russia, the other two were still here in Japan. "This is the start," Honoka involuntary says aloud. Even she didn't know what she was starting. A conspiracy? A revolution?

Only ten seconds later she gets a text back from Umi. "What is this?" it read. "What did you do?"

"I was in the office when the papers were there," Honoka replies, which wasn't far from the truth.

"This is confidential information, Honoka," Umi sends at a speed suggesting that she didn't read Honoka's message. The redhead sighs.

'I guess we're both stubborn in our own ways,' Honoka thinks to herself, typing another text.

"Just read it." After that, the chat fell silent. Perhaps Umi was really reading it. Meanwhile, Honoka gets a text from Maki.

"Fake," it read plainly. That exact word also came from Hanayo, Nozomi and Nico. 'There's gonna be a lot of explaining to do...' Honoka groans, getting her thumbs ready.

After some time most everyone was online and on the group chat, anyone that wasn't in on it was confused. "Everyone, I got this earlier in school," Honoka says. Two seconds later, the chat was alive.

"Where?"

"Wait what's happening"

"Fake"

"wait is this actually happening I'm confused"

"Where's Eli..."

"faaake"

"Honoka where did you get that"

Honoka breaks in, "I don't know what this means for everyone..."

"Otonokizaka is being extorted by UTX." Umi had said it, promptly killing the chat. "It means we're being forced to give up our school to them." Umi's tone was somber, but that alone probably wasn't enough to convince her. After all, she had remained adamant that Honoka and Kotori stay away from the situation. "There's nothing we can do."

"What do you mean?" Rin asks. "We're just going to give up?"

"It's obviously fake," Maki adds.

"why would it be fake?" Nozomi interrupts, not being one for skepticism.

"Why would a professional establishment like that even need otono anyways?" Maki stands her ground. "There's no reason for them to be doing that."

"no reason that we know of yet," Nozomi retorts.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Where was it Honoka?" Umi inquires, ignoring the two arguing. "Where did you find the papers?"

"On the front desk. In the office. I swear, it was right on top," Honoka silences the group again.

 _Umi has left the chat._

* * *

"EVERYONE!" Rin screamed the following day. All six of the members gather round the front of the school, under the tree where Honoka always eats her bread. "Did you hear the news?!"

"Some other school near the ocean's being taken by UTX!" Hanayo says on cue.

"Urano...hoshi, or something..." Kotori whispers, trying to remember the name.

"And someone submitted Honoka's picture to the police!" Rin continues.

"What?!" they all shriek in unison. Everyone, especially Umi, who was glaring daggers into Honoka.

"It wasn't me! Really!"

"Then who did it?" Maki says, almost indifferently, as she twirls her hair.

"Honoka..." Umi grumbles through her teeth.

"It wasn't me! I wouldn't joke about something-"

"I don't think it was her, Umi..." Kotori mumbles, mostly in fear.

"They can track down your phone, you know," Maki adds, not really sure what side she's on. "Everyone in the chat is a suspect." The painful truth emerged. The group couldn't even trust each other.

"Are you sure you didn't send it to anyone else?" Kotori asks with her fists under her chin. Honoka violently shakes her head. "This is serious..." At this point everyone was talking and arguing over each other.

"We have to tell someone!" Hanayo pipes up.

"No!" everyone says simultaneously. Before the conversation had a chance to start back up again, the bell rang, signaling the end of their lunch period. The girls awkwardly split apart without a word, all of them terribly distressed.

* * *

On their usual route home, the three third-years remained silent, mostly in part of the fact that Umi disapproved of everything that's happened as of far. The uncomfortable silence didn't stop when they dropped Honoka off, where they parted ways silently. Standing at the entrance of the candy shop doubling as Honoka's home was someone familiar.

Their presence gave Honoka a shock. "Ts-Tsubasa..." The former rival of A-RISE Kira Tsubasa was standing there in wait. She was by herself.

"Am old friend from UTX was looking for you today, Honoka," Honoka's mother called from within the store. "She's been here for a while so make her feel welcome!"

"Long time, no see, Honoka," Kira said in near perfect English. Honoka was speechless at first. Her mind immediately focused on what happened in the news. UTX would surely have taken action, especially after A-RISE adopted the management company they talked to Honoka about. Of course, that was only a few months ago.

"Y-Yeah...sure has..." They both head to Honoka's room, sitting across from each other. Tsubasa's demeanor was confident in whatever mission she was sent on with a mix of arrogance thrown in. There was no way she would meander into the house of a commoner without a reason to do so. "So..."

"I heard your group split up after the third years graduated," Kira said without expecting a nerve to be struck. Honoka gulped and nodded. "What a shame. I'm sure you would've settled high up on the ladder. Maybe even next to us." Honoka didn't remember Kira being like this. Sure, she was competitive during Love Live!, but she never was patronizing in any way. Perhaps that was just a ruse. "I'm sorry if I sound condescending," Kira says as if she read Honoka's mind. "But I can't help but marvel how long it's been since we've met."

The room fell silent again. Honoka's hands were at her lap, and so were her eyes. She couldn't help but look down. One of the most powerful celebrities in all of Japan's idol industry was sitting right in front of her without even one suited guard to watch. It almost felt like she was here to help Honoka with something menial, like homework.

"I'm sure you've heard the news about the papers sent to your high school." Here, Honoka froze and looked up. Tsubasa's expression didn't budge. Her slightly demeaning half-smile was still staring right into the redhead. It almost scared Honoka how confident Kira was. "Do you, in fact, know how that ever came to light?" Honoka immediately shook her head.

"No, no, I don't." Tsubasa almost laughed, but stifled herself when she looked back up to Honoka's blue, fearful eyes. Tsubasa's ever-present smirk returned to fruition.

"No? Well, let me assure you it isn't what you think it is." Honoka couldn't help but notice how calm Kira's tone was. It all sounded so fluent to her, like it was an unnaturally scripted conversation. "The wording makes it sound like we're forcing the school to shut down for our sake. I should clarify that that is not the intent of UTX. We're a professional establishment that would never resort to those tactics. That letter that was shown was a fake. I can assure you." Honoka wasn't sure whether or not to believe her. "And, if you don't believe me, watch tomorrow's news. You'll see exactly why."

Kira stood up directly after. "Oh, and Honoka?" The aforementioned looked up from her shoes at Kira.

"Y-Yes?"

"Your mother's anko is absolutely divine." Tsubasa slipped a sinister giggle and walked out Honoka's room. Some formalities were exchanged at the shop floor before Honoka heard the door close. Why did Kira make a special personal visit just to tell her that? Honoka's instinct told her to tell her friends, but she was still shaken by the fear the girl instilled into her. Kira didn't do or say anything that would've prompted this appropriately, it was just...something about her. The way she walked, almost as if she was floating, or the way she spoke, as if she knew very well of the words Honoka herself didn't know would utter, and even the way she looked at Honoka, scanning her every facial movement, every eye twitch, every fidget. Honoka's wasn't ready to dismiss this as just an ordinary visit.

"I'm sick of red bean paste."

* * *

 **Like all of my other stories, this one is going to be thirty chapters long and should wrap up nicely. Might be able to do a chapter a day if I get lucky, so we'll see how that goes. But for now, enjoy the show.**

 **Thanks anyways,  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	4. Making Headlines

The news had relayed exactly what Tsubasa said it would.

"The letter sent to Otonokizaka revealed just yesterday has been inspected and proven to be a fraud." The news faded out of Honoka's mind as she continued to ponder the situation. There was no reason for Otonokizaka to be closing other than this. Everyone's been telling her the whole time that she was being delusional, that she was just lying to herself and denying the reality that the school didn't have money.

But Honoka knows that isn't true. Love Live! wasn't just a temporary boost in students entering, it would be immortalized into the history of Otonokizaka for generations. Why would it stop generating income just months after µ's success? It just didn't make any sense.

"I'm off!" she called back to her parents as she walked down the road to he school. She looked into the eyes of both Kotori and Umi as they rendezvoused at their usual spot. Just like the past week, Umi remained silent. Kotori did as well, but mostly out of fear of Umi. In the end, the whole group was silent. In a huff, Umi took a step forward, urging the others to follow her. Their routine journey to school was now just like a regular commute in public transport. They were individuals just so happening to be walking in a group, rather than being the three friends that always talked and had fun, even if it was just walking to and from school.

"You guys...heard the news?" Honoka timidly says. Umi kept her eyes forward, a frown plastered onto her face. Kotori defensively glances at Umi and then back at Honoka before looking down at her feet without saying a word. "UTX says it's fake, but, you might guess by now that I don't exactly believe them." They stop together and form a line parallel to the street before crossing it shortly after. Still, not a sound came out of either Kotori's or Umi's mouth. "Don't you think-"

"You said you'd never mention UTX again," Umi spits curtly. "You said that before your raid at the office." Honoka falls silent. "UTX says it's a fake, end of story."

"Don't you think it's weird how the chairwoman has nothing to say about this?" That's all Honoka said before falling silent again, awaiting Umi's barrage of berations. In spite of it, everyone was now deep in thought, even Umi.

* * *

The rest of the day went on without event. Everyone was troubled, even the other students. "So...does that mean we're not shutting down the school?" Kotori asks her mother, Honoka beside her. The chairwoman looked on at their faces of determination, as if they were waiting for an answer they knew they weren't getting.

"It's...a little more complicated than that. S-Sorry, Kotori, but I have an interview scheduled soon," the chairwoman leaves the pair by themselves expecting them to go on their own from there.

"Interview?" Honoka says with a raised brow.

"All these local news stations have been asking for interviews. They're everywhere, Honoka. I even saw a reporter hiding across the street last night." Kotori's voice shifted to a harsh whisper. Honoka, you shouldn't've done that-"

"I didn't file it!" Honoka replies with the same tone. "I don't even know who did, but it wasn't me!" Kotori wanted to believe her, but who else could it have been? Honoka was the only one in µ's dedicated enough to try something like submitting the picture to local news, but that raised another question, was the letter even real? The news insisted that it was a forgery, but why would the school be still closing down?

"It...it just..." Kotori began to tear up, thinking of everything they've worked up on until this point. Everything seemed to be beyond her control, like hidden organizations and agents were lurking within the shadows, setting up every action and step they take.

"...doesn't make sense, doesn't it?" Honoka puts her hand on Kotori's back. "Look, we'll find out sooner or later, okay? Trust me." Kotori knew Honoka was just saying that to make her feel better. In fact, she probably said it to make herself feel better too. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

* * *

Honoka waves back to her friend, who wiped her eyes with her sleeve and returned the farewell. Across the street of her house, Kotori seemed small and fragile, almost engulfed by the large building looming over here. Honoka mused on the wonders of having a such an unnecessarily large house. Her thoughts were interrupted when light yet noticeable footsteps clicked on the sidewalk behind her.

It was Kira, by herself and in her UTX uniform. It looked like she had just gotten out of school as well. "Good afternoon, Honoka," she says formally, standing in front of the sun. The eclipse she created with herself was threatening and ominous, as if she had commanded the sun and led it behind her on a leash.

"H-Hi, Kira..." Honoka still couldn't shake the feeling of suspicion from her. Kira was by herself with seemingly no one else around the street. The road was empty and rather narrow, most likely built for the houses that it ran alongside it, rather than the other way around. Maybe it was the dead end that hung behind Honoka's back.

"Did you see the news? See? I told you it was a fraud." Honoka gripped the sling on her bag tighter and began to hunch over in a defensive stance. Kira started to wander in a circle around her with her usual air of confidence. It was one of the most cliche things Honoka had seen her do, pacing innocently around Honoka as if Tsubasa were a predator analyzing her prey and observing her weaknesses from afar. Kira skids herself to a stop, the heel of her shoe echoing throughout the lazy street. "Honoka, I have something to ask you." The redhead perks up, looking at Kira with a cold sweat. "What do you think of UTX?"

Honoka gulps, gathering her courage to speak as if it were scattered about a messy room. "U-Uh...what do you...mean by that?"

"I was just wondering how you felt of our establishment."

"You did j-just, take a school, didn't you?"

"Three, actually. One in Shizuoka, one in Kanagawa and one in, Tokyo. They were, struggling schools..." Here Kira pauses and coughs into her fist. "It couldn't be helped, I suppose. UTX steps in and asks if they need help and, if they agree, we consolidate them. There they have the hand of UTX guide them with our state of the art technology and..." Kira stops herself and giggles with emotion between mischief and sheepishness. Her unpredictability continued to terrify Honoka. "Sorry for rambling, heh. Anyways, what do you think of UTX?"

Kira was clearly covering something up, even Honoka could see that. Kira's execution of her in-depth explanation of the consolidation system probably didn't help her case any either. "It's...just another school," Honoka lies, looking down at the pavement. She pretended to be interested in a rock stuck between where the road and the sidewalk curb met, just so she didn't have to look at Kira's intimidating demeanor. "Right?"

"I'm glad you don't think of us as any less. Anything else?" Honoka swallows nervously again, waiting for something, anything to save her from this confrontation.

"I don't...have a particular opinion on it, no..." Kira smiles with fake sincerity, looking at something in the distance. Another silence filled the air. Honoka's mind was racing with questions of fear. Was this a part of the plan? What was going to happen to Honoka, her friends, the school? Honoka's attempts to look normal were clearly not working, and they both could tell.

"Sorry. I know this was sudden, but I had some other things in mind to talk to you about. We'll have to do that later. See ya!" Kira walks past Honoka, the former trying her best to hide the urgency of her destination. When Honoka looked off to the end of the street to see if there was a car or an escort waiting for her, there was nothing. What was Kira looking at?

Just then, a door closed, and Kotori ran onto the street. Her school uniform was still on, and her face looked worried sick. Honoka was glad to see someone familiar by her side. "Honoka! Are you alright?" The redhead replied with a simple nod.

"Did you see what happened?"

"Y-Yes..." Kotori looked around as if she was checking for people that might be watching despite being all alone on the street. "I was...watching from inside. You looked so pale and scared..."

"Wh-Why didn't you come out?" Honoka asks, holding Kotori in an embrace of fear.

"Because..." Kotori returned the hug and looked out to where Kira went, but nothing was there. Not even a shadow was left behind, proving her initial presence here. "Someone else was watching."

* * *

Maki hung up her phone and fell face first onto the couch of her living room. 'Another late shift...' she thinks to herself, taking in the fragrance of the recently cleaned furniture. For once, she just wanted to forget her work and just lay there, not only disregarding the responsibilities of school but also the responsibilities of physical movement. 'I wish I could stay here forever.' Rolling over so that she was on one side, she faced the huge TV that mounted the wall across from her. After mindlessly staring at the colors dancing around the screen, Maki heard the doorbell indicating that someone was outside the gate.

"It's 9:56..." Maki groans, forcing herself up. "Who's up at this hour-"

The speaker connected to the gate sparks to life. "Hello? This is Sonoda Umi, one of Maki's classmates. I'm here to tell her something..." Without even bothering to hear the rest of the message, Maki throws on a coat and runs out to the gate. Outside stood Umi, blanketed in a trench coat two sizes too big. "Maki-"

"What are you doing up this late?"

"Please, I need you to hear me out."

"Why didn't you call me?"

"I..." Umi trails off before gathering her thoughts. She was still panting from what Maki presumed was a rather lengthy jog from wherever Umi came from. "I think Nozomi needs our help."

Inside the living room, Umi crumbles down onto a chair, not bothering to hang up her coat or worry about posture and etiquette. She had used up nearly all of her energy to run here. "What happened?" Maki closes the door quietly, momentarily leaving to get a glass of water.

"Nozomi...something happened to her."

"What, what happened?" Maki caught herself acting like a parent, bringing the glass over with an anxious look on her face.

"Haven't you seen the news?" Umi points at the TV, still on the same channel Maki had left it at. It was a news program she wasn't even paying attention to, covering a protest in Tokyo demanding a government audit on UTX High School. "This just started...this afternoon," Umi adds, pausing to take a greedy drink of water. "Thanks, Maki."

"What do..." Maki stops herself, realizing that this was why her parents were working a late shift this time. "Who do you think..."

"Half of them are students," Umi says, recalling the facts she heard on the local news before she left. "The rest are just ordinary folks, I suppose." Maki sits back down with concern on the same couch she was so slovenly lazing on just minutes ago.

"Anyways, why did you come here?" Maki asks, breaking the droning of the late night news anchor.

"Right!" Umi gets up from her slouching position and faces Maki. "Nozomi. Some news outlet covered a story of Nozomi. It's slander, Maki, I'm telling you. It's defamation, it's a libel...it's..." Umi trails off again, her head swirling. Not being used to covering a short distance in that amount of time, mild nausea also started to set in. "It's not good, but I can tell people are eating it up. I'm just...I'm just scared of...scared of what they'll do...what people will think about...Nozomi..."

"Who wrote it?" Maki asks, rushing to get a laptop. This couldn't be good.

"I don't know, I don't care. It's easy to find...I just..." Maki could tell that Umi was tired and sleepy. She seemed loopy, irritable and not herself. With relative ease, Maki finds the article. It was one of the trending searches.

"Nozomi, former member of school idol group µ's, possibly connected to enjo-kosai..." Maki's voice fades. "No, that's not true. That...that can't be her, right?" Maki calls. She knew it couldn't be true, but there was always a little bit of doubt...

Umi yells from the other room. "It's obviously not her. I texted Nozomi myself and she's denying it. Everyone else heard about it, and they all know that it isn't her. She said she's never even been to that town."

"But why would they target Nozomi in particular?"

"Because...well...you know..."

"Her...physical features."

"Y-Yeah."

"I get it. Couldn't Nozomi sue whoever wrote it?" Umi sighs.

"I wish it was that simple, Maki." Maki closes the laptop and looks at Umi, trying to get a hold of herself in her chair with her elbows on her knees and her fingers on her temples. "I wish it was..." Maki sits back down on the couch, looking on in morbid curiosity at the fire and broken glass that was laid at a busy street. She wondered if her parents were going to come back safely, but quickly put the thought away, not wanting to needlessly worry herself further.

"Why would do all of this for school idols?" Umi's face grew serious. Closing her eyes to gather her thoughts, she takes a moment before responding.

"It's...not just about the school idols. It's about UTX as a private school." Interested, Maki tuned out the sound of the television and listened to Umi. "Rumors of their connection to the black market and how they're also a school. Something along those lines. I don't know too much about the details, but these people are scared of their children, of the children UTX will be taking under their care soon."

"Right. Because of..."

"Because of their 'consolidation' program." The TV was the only sound any of them could hear now, and they weren't even fully paying attention to it in the first place.

"So, why did you come to my house?" Umi looks up and leans back against the chair, letting her weight sink down into it. Having caught her breath and recomposed herself, she starts talking, but still continued to face her feet. Her face had the more mature and determined look Umi usually held, now that the adrenaline was beginning to drain away.

"I came here because I know we're in danger," Umi said with utmost sternness. "Have you ever heard of doxxing?" Maki's eyes went wide.

"You don't mean..."

"It wouldn't be difficult, wouldn't it? I don't know if I've been targeted yet, but, I...I just know your house is safe." Maki set aside the economic basis Umi was judging this on, wondering if the other girls knew about the threat that now hung over their heads. "People are thinking that µ's is the one responsible for the protests, just because our school was put on the headlines."

Neither of them have truly felt fear until now. Apprehension was one thing, but genuine resistance to see tomorrow was different. No one was safe anymore.

Maki thought to herself, watching protesters bash themselves against a row of riot shields. So far they've experienced nothing but the bright side of being renowned. They got deals all over Japan from almost every idol corporation, promising millions of yen for just standing in front of a camera for a few minutes. Maki was always the skeptic of the group, always waiting for the one thing she could use to leave idolling, but she had grown to love it, and now, she was seeing the dark side a little too late.

"Is being famous worth all this?"

* * *

 **Sorry if this is a slow start. I just want to make their transition from school idols to organized criminals as smooth as I can. More conflict soon.**

 **Thanks anyways,  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	5. Red-eye Flight

Overnight, µ's seemed to have been reborn again.

Their popularity exploded back to life as news of potential extortion broke out to the whole nation. Instead of quelling the protests, they seemed to only have grown louder, more prevalent. Idols of all sorts from all prefectures spoke up about the issue. The more people conspired online, the more they "uncover".

"Ties to gang related violence?" Hanayo reads an article about µ's off the computer in the old idol research club room. "Sounds a little, uh, Machiavellian?" Everyone else was silent, the graveness of the situation scaring them endlessly to no avail.

"What...should we do?" Rin peeped, the silence engulfing her soon after. Everyone's anxious faces only fed the fire of restlessness growing within them all.

"This must be what A-RISE was talking about..." Honoka says out loud, mostly to herself. "I remember they took me out on their limo that one night. They...talked about having some kind of management look after them, you know, when they continue to pursue their professional idol career. These must be the threats they meant." Honoka was deep in thought. There's no way the six students could amass enough money to hire professional security to bodyguard them all day, even with Maki's inheritance. How management took care of news outlets remained a mystery.

"All we can hope for is for the news to die down," Honoka says, her voice shaky and unsure in her weak attempt to release the tension in the room. It felt like any moment someone would be busting through the door. "I mean...now we're just normal people..."

"It seems like every day something new happens..." Kotori whispers. "I don't know if...it'll be that simple..."

"Nothing seems to be that simple." Umi wanted badly to tear into Honoka, to tell her that this was all her fault. Umi didn't care about the truth anymore. She didn't care if she would have to move out of the school, none of it mattered, as long as they all managed to live normal lives. 'But Honoka, being the force of justice...' she thinks to herself, grinding her teeth in both worry and anger. If Umi was going to be angry, someone else had to know. "What do you think about your little conspiracy theory now, Honoka?" she said with bitter passive-aggressiveness. Everyone in the room winced and reluctantly looked at Honoka for a reaction.

"I...I don't think...I'm wrong."

'So she sticks to her guns under pressure? Same commendable spirit as always, I'll give her that' Umi had never felt true contempt for her friends, especially one of her best friends. Honoka was the one that brought Umi out of her shell. Years and years of friendship, and even through the grand adventure of µ's, Honoka was behind it all. But now, all of it seemed distant, irrelevant, almost meaningless. Through the scope of the situation, Honoka's hatched little plan led to a national riot, and now being browbeaten by people they didn't even know.

The room was silent other than the otherwise inaudible and soothingly gentle whir of the computer. "I don't think I'm wrong," Honoka repeats herself, standing up for dramatic effect. "I'm sorry, Umi, but I don't want to let this go." That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Honoka!" Umi's mature attitude fell away in an instant, her shout startling everyone in the room. "Don't you get it? Our lives are in danger because of you!"

"Uh..." Kotori tried to intervene by reaching out to Umi, but Umi slams her hand on the table.

"I've had it with everyone protecting Honoka. Doesn't anyone understand what she's started? Why are you so stubborn, Honoka? You're determined, you're willful, but you've also brought us to this rut!" No one dared to mediate. A genuinely angry Umi was dangerous, others likening her to that of a violent tsunami. Before Honoka even got a chance to explain herself, Umi continued relentlessly. "Now look what you've done. Everyone's gone mad in the streets. People are camping out in front of my house and stalking me every afternoon and I know I'm not the only one going through it." Umi was right. All of them a got a share of this mess everyday. More libels, more stalkers, more hate.

"I'm moving out of the city." At this, everyone's eyes went wide. They remained silent after that, knowing that this still wasn't the right time to stop Umi. "Somewhere in the country, going to a different school with people that probably won't even recognize my name."

The sudden news only exacerbated the pressure. Umi fumed without remorse, almost begging with her stare alone to see Honoka react and cry. "I'm leaving." Umi quickly and haphazardly throws her things into her bookbag before storming out of the room and slamming the door behind her. The room was still in shock in wake of the unexpected announcement. Not even Honoka bothered to run after her. She took Umi's thoughts into consideration, but even she wouldn't force Honoka to step down, an innate feeling that, while everything may be horrible on the way, things would work out in the end. She had felt it all along her time as µ's, and she certainly felt it now.

Maybe, through her whole life and career as a school idol, she was living in denial.

* * *

Honoka dropped her bag, noticeably hitting the ground with a _thump_.

She was standing outside the entrance of her house, as well as the entrance to her parents' store. The doors had been mangled out of their tracks and were on the ground, broken. The inside of the store was ransacked and messy, like a bomb went off. Boxes and glass littered the floor, and in the middle of it all was her mother, kneeling pitifully in the midst of the destruction. "H-Honoka..."

"Mom?!" Honoka kicks past shards of broken glass and embraces her mother, tears streaking their cheeks. "Wh-What happened...?" Honoka's father entered the room.

"Honoka!" he exclaims. The whole Kousaka family was together, looking in fear of what had just transpired. Honoka didn't have time to process what was happening. There were too many things happening at once. Yukiho came downstairs after a while, where her eyes met with Honoka. The slight pitter-patter of rain started outside, slowly developing into a steady stream by the time the police arrived. There wasn't much to go off of, as the family could tell. Everyone was in the back of the shop when it all took place. The sound of breaking glass was what brought attention to the front of the shop, which Honoka's mother was sure that she locked.

Honoka looked on outside at the rain hitting the ground with a little splash before pooling together into a curbside stream. It was a useless, fleeting process her eyes were fixated on. She sat wordlessly in her room as the clatter of investigation downstairs continued for what seemed like hours. Honoka didn't bother telling her friends about it. What were they going to do? Fortunately for them, there were minimal losses, at least from what the police found. She knew that it would only be time before news of the burglary would make it to national headlines.

"Honoka!" a voice called from downstairs. It was the voice of her mother. Taking one more look at the pouring water outside, she forces herself up from her frozen position, too blind with fear to even try to organize the whirlwind of events in her mind. First there was the release of the UTX papers, then Nozomi was being slandered, now riots are taking place on the street while Umi prepares to leave behind Tokyo and her friends and now Honoka's store has been robbed. All this occurring in a matter of a week. It seemed uncannily coincidental, as if something deeper was behind it all. "Do you know anything about this?" her mother's voice called to her thoughts from reality. Honoka snapped awake and shook her head rapidly. "Is there anyone at school that you think would think of something like this?"

Honoka shook her head again without uttering a sound. "This note was found among the wreckage and debris. We were wondering if you knew anything about it." A gloved officer hands Honoka a small slip of paper torn from a notebook with pen messily scribbled onto it. "We dusted it for fingerprints and found nothing." The note had four words, both confusing and shocking at the same time, the emotions and the reasons behind them impossible to convey to her mom or even the police.

 _Thanks for the anko_

* * *

Eli had arrived at Tokyo on a red-eye flight. After briefly telling Nozomi that she had just landed, Eli swiftly made her way past the crowd acting as cold as possible. She figured that if she didn't act like she was trying to hide herself, no one would suspect her. She escaped the looks of people that nearly recognized her and got out of the airport with no event. It was raining outside.

"I suppose it's spring weather..." she thinks to herself, holding her arm out to hail a cab. Eli knew her way around town. She had lived here most of her life, after all. She decided to get off the cab just a few minutes away from Nozomi's house. Eli could've been half asleep and she still would've been able to stumble her way to Nozomi's front door. The path was ingrained into her memory.

She realized walking along on an empty street in the dead of night probably wasn't the best idea about a minute in. Sure, she'd done this before, but everything was too quiet, as if the entire neighborhood was holding their breath to confirm a creak heard in the night.

"Hello?' Eli calls out into the void, immediately regretting it soon afterwards. Luckily for her, no one responded. As she continued forward, gravel and rocks crunching under her feet, she hears another sound, this time more distinct. It was a metal baseball bat hitting the cement, clear as day.

Eli could guess the source of the sound, and the closer she approached the source, the more pieces she put together. There's a dispute occuring, presumably in secrecy. Now the center was becoming clearer, and her footsteps grew gentler, tiptoeing like in her ballet days. 'Sounds like...a gang?' Eli peeks over the corner of a convenience store into a narrow, dark alleyway in the space separating two brick buildings.

She could see the silhouettes of three standing individuals standing in a half circle in front of something, or someone, crumpled on the ground. "What did we tell you? I explicitly told you to bring it today!" A small voice squeaked in reply, shivering and shaking as they tried to articulate as best they can.

"You...s-s-said...on the eighteenth...I'm being payed...tomo-" One of the three encircling the person on the ground kicked her hard, bringing about a fit of coughs. Eli wanted to get help, or maybe even go in herself, but she sacrificed getting herself involved.

"Great. Now what're we gonna do?" Another member of the triad says, mostly out of desperation."We won't make the deadline in time with this cash."

The one on the ground looked up and saw Eli's blonde hair protruding from the corner. They saw Eli through the six legs acting as bars in a prison. Her voice, tired from screaming and choking, only managed to croak a few syllables. "H-Help...me!..."

"Who the hell are you talking t-" One of the three, who seemed to have the shadow of a baseball bat in their hands, whirled around and caught a glimpse of the Russian before she hid herself. "Some bastard saw us. Yuki, check it out."

"Aye," a gravelly voice probably from regular smoking replies. Her steps were fierce and determined, as if she were holding back intense rage and planning to release it at her destination. "Hey, you!" Eli tried to walk away obliviously, but only froze, knowing she'd be the be the only suspect. "You saw us didn't you?"

Eli decided not to respond or even turn around. "Hey, I know you saw us. Turn around." She held her ground and started to take a step forward. "Don't even think of running away, little girl!" The last two words grated into her head, causing her to grind her teeth wordlessly. She hated being called that more than anything.

More furious steps were heard just seconds later. Eli turns her head around and sees the band of three advancing towards her. One had the baseball bat, another had a golf club and the last one started to crack their knuckles menacingly in the most cliche way possible. Eli was facing them with her whole body now.

"We might not know each other, and neither do we care. But we expect to be treated with dignity and listened to!" Eli smirked in her head, noting the irony in that statement. The one in the middle drove her foot forward, planting it deep into Eli's stomach. The Russian was sent careening backwards, knowing this was going to be one long night.

* * *

 **I think I should warn you now, but I'll try to make the battle scenes as realistic as possible. That'll mean pain, blood, etc. Consider this a trigger warning, I guess.**

 **Thanks anyways,  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	6. World of Hurt

Eli's head turns from side to side, briefly scanning her surroundings for anything or anyone that could've helped her. Sure, she was capable of basic and to hand combats, but she had never really fought anyone seriously, let alone against three armed thugs. "What're you here for? You here to rat us out?" one of them taunts, slapping the end of her bat in the palm of her other hand.

Eli remained silent. She didn't have much with her, and she already threw her bag into a pile of bushes for safekeeping. One of them put both hands on the handle of the bat. "Let's not let that happen." She swung with what seemed like all her might, but Eli swiftly steps backward, taking a few breaths to balance herself after. "You can dance, huh? Get her sides." The one on the left lunged at her with their fist out, but Eli was quick to grab it. Remembering back to her short days of martial arts, she heaves the arm over, sending the girl with it on the ground.

The Russian could tell they were common ruffians, not trained in any particular doctrine, but mostly driven by brute firepower rather than focusing on skill. With one of them down on the ground, the remaining two scoffed. They swing their weapons at the same time, but instead of falling back, Eli dives forward, tackling the other girl on the left. The last girl standing violently swung her bat downwards just as Eli rolled off, and instead hits the girl Eli knocked down to the ground.

Eli could tell the last one standing wasn't the kind to fight directly. She holds the bat by the knob and lets its other end drop to the ground. Her hand was outstretched, asking to be shaken. "Not bad, little girl. I have to say, I haven't seen anyone fight back so well." Eli tried to hold back her panting and exhaustion; it had been a while since she had done this, after all. Staring at the hand wrapped in bandages, Eli was naturally skeptical. The condition of the girl's comrades and her expression didn't match. "Come on, let's just give this up and go on with our lives. She didn't have money, so-"

Eli grabs the wrist holding the bat and throws her body weight at the girl, bringing them both down to the ground. Grunting in the process as the Russian tries to restrain her, the girl headbutts Eli, which unexpectedly worked. Stunned and slightly dizzy, Eli puts her hand to her forehead and sees the two others she had knocked down standing back up, recomposing themselves.

A foot digs into Eli's abdomen, sending her flying down on the street. "Gotta admit, you did well, sweetheart." A feeling of nausea began to sweep Eli's mind as the pain from her head and stomach began to swell. She attempts to gather herself on all fours. "But, unfortunately, not good enough." Cold steel whacks her in the side, and Eli's cheeks felt the coarse pavement again. "We'll go easy on you this time."

An eternity had passed by the time the three had left. Eli hurt all over, remembering when they roughly patted her down for any belongings. She was empty-handed, of course, and the delinquents left in a huff, slightly disappointed with their lack of loot. Vision blurry and head swaying, Eli used her remaining strength to crawl over to the student who had been badly beaten earlier. "H-Hello?" Eli croaks. The word came out gruff and almost painful having sustained extensive damage. It was a wonder her voice worked at all.

"H-Hey...hey!" The girl remained motionless. "Pl-please..." Suddenly, the overwhelming sense of nausea returned, and, after using up her final reservoir of energy, Eli succumbs to exhaustion, her final memory being the world snapping into darkness.

* * *

Pain.

Everything hurt; her arms, legs, head, body. Both inside and out. Eli was reintroduced to the world in pain. She tried to get up from her lying position but immediately plunged back to it when her core screamed in soreness. Noting the texture of the surface she laid upon, Eli sees that she was in a house. 'Nozomi...' she utters in her mind. Even in her own head, her voice sounded raspy.

"Eli-chan!" a motherly voice floats to her head. "Don't get up. Stay right where you are."

'Who would've thought the first time I'd hear this voice was now...' Eli didn't plan on getting up anytime either, judging by how she already tried it. She tried to take her mind off the pain by ruminating on the memories of Nozomi's abode. She remembers her last year of high school with all of µ's and taking Nozomi home whenever she could, savoring her presence for as long as possible. 'She looked so young...' Eli remembers. She would've smiled if it didn't hurt so much.

A tray clattered on the table nearby and Eli returns to reality. "I'm afraid to ask what even happened to you." Eli exhales in relief, finding her bag next to the door as the purple-haired girl pulls over a stool and sits next to the Russian.

"Wh-where's the..."

"The other girl woke up an hour ago. She had to leave soon but wanted to thank you. I wish she would've stayed the night..." Nozomi's tone was bittersweet. The sound of a caring mother was tranquil, only balanced by the thought that negativity drove it. "Anyways, you can tell me the whole story when you get better. For now, just rest and drink up." Nozomi holds out a cup of tea, which Eli drinks gratefully.

A few more hours passed and Eli managed to endure sitting up normally. She felt like a broken down car with parts loosely rattling inside her. At last, she managed to maintain her upright position. It was a Friday, so the rest of the girls were still at school. Nozomi had left to run some errands, leaving Eli all by herself. She stretches out her arm experimentally and pops a joint somewhere, inviting more pain than releasing it. While she wasn't here in Japan, Eli was well aware of the events transpiring; the protests, the libels, the stalkers. They were all targeting µ's. It was no coincidence that UTX was also responsible for "consolidating" with "struggling" schools. Not only was µ's making international headlines, she read everything her friends said. She had to tell them why she hadn't responded.

* * *

Eli woke up again to the sound of a shaking doorknob. Gathering the strength to pull herself up once more, she rubs her eyes and watches the door open. The sound of hurried and hushed conversation accompanied the staccato of footsteps marching into the home. Familiar, happy-go-lucky voices Eli was so used to were replaced with voices of apprehension and dense with trepidation. The lights, which were off for most of the day, finally flickered on with Nozomi's command. Eli hadn't gotten up on her own in fear of the pain that would ensue.

"Eli's here!"

"Elicchi!"

"Oh my-...what happened?"

"Are you alright?" Eli turned her head to see silhouettes of five people she recognized. Just by their shadows alone, she could pick out who was who. In the midst of it all was Nozomi with her eyes closed and one hand up, signalling everyone to be quiet.

"Eli needs to rest," Nozomi says matter-of-factly. The group of five remained silent, each one of them wanting to ask the question, but unable to muster up the courage. Nozomi calmly walks over to the Russian, who was cycling between looking at Nozomi and everyone else.

"H-Hey guys..." Eli's voice was still hoarse from inactivity, only making the girls even more uncomfortable. "Been a while-"

"What happened?" Honoka gasps. At that, all the girls rushed in to sit near Eli, dropping their bags and speaking all at once. Nozomi chuckles sheepishly, unable to control their worry.

"She's fine. As far as I'm concerned there's no serious injury done to her. Just a bunch of bumps and scratches-"

Nozomi was interrupted by the flurry of voices that followed. "No...we need a professional to examine her right away...how long has she been like this...where did you find her...Eli when did you come here..." Now Eli was the one whose hand went up. The group silenced themselves. Seeing how the formalities would get them nowhere, Eli decided to jump right into her story.

"I landed here...last night. Close to 1:00AM here when I...arrived." Eli pauses to take a deep breath and let her body get used to talking. Last night had drained all of her energy, and currently did so as well. "On my way to Nozomi's h-house, I heard some arguing going on...in an alleyway." Brows furrowed as the story progressed, some drawing closer and others backing away. "T-turns out there were four girls involved. Three, delinquents, one victim. The three turned on me...and...here I am now." The silence falls upon them all, not sure how to react.

A sigh breaks the silence. "Luckily, she was close. I went out and found her there, wondering when she would get here along with the other girl," Nozomi explains, crossing her arms. Before she could continue, Rin cuts in.

"What happened to the other girl?"

"She left this morning," Nozomi replies, staring out the window longingly, thinking of where the girl must be now. "She didn't explain herself too much, other than that those three were regular visitors of hers." Honoka, with her back to the group, turns around and faces everyone, an idea popping into her head.

"What color were the delinquents' uniforms, Eli?" she suddenly spouts, surprising the group. Responding with shock at first, Eli puts her hand to her chin and thinks.

"W-Well...I didn't get a good look because of their black blazers...but...I think...their uniforms were white. A dirty white." Eli didn't even bother to think of a detail that minute, despite thinking about that specific hour all day. "Like...it had...been in a scuffle before." Honoka hums in wondering.

"I would think so..."

"What are you thinking about?" Kotori questions.

"Well, you know how UTX has been following us, right?" The girls exchange glances and nod their heads slowly, not sure where Honoka was leading them. "And you know how their uniform is white, right?"

"Well, that could be anyone," Maki nonchalantly adds, twirling her hair with one finger. "How do we know it's UTX?"

"They would know where Nozomi lives and where Eli is going," Rin responds without hesitation. "They led someone out there to do their business!" Skepticism grew in everyone's expressions, but Nozomi added to the fire.

"That girl...she was wearing a white uniform..." She looks up from her thinking position. "Were they all from the same school?" The other girls gave it a thought. "It would explain how they know each other, wouldn't it?"

"But how do we know it's UTX?" Maki stands her ground. "This could be any random gang."

"They must be tracking my texts," Eli mutters, almost to herself. Instead of getting an incredulous gasp of confusion, all Eli got were looks of silent confusion.

"What do you mean? They can...can do that?" Hanayo's voice mimicked a diminuendo as her sentence continued. The room fell silent once again. It all felt too convenient, they all thought, and the symptoms of hopelessness began to show. They didn't know what to go off of or do at all.

"That's why I haven't been talking in the group chat, and I encourage all to do the same." The group took that into consideration, but knew they wouldn't be changing so easily. How else would they be communicating other than talking in person? Any form of correspondence could be intercepted, after all.

"I know," Honoka says, her voice unexpectedly shattering the silence. "Let's call Nico."

"Nico?" they all say.

"She's the only one that isn't a part of this conversation," Honoka replies, whipping out her phone. Maki scoffs in the corner, closing her eyes and continuing to twirl her hair.

"Except Umi..." she mumbles, catching everyone's attention.

"...y-yeah..." Honoka manages to contact the missing upperclassmen and put her on speaker.

"Hello? What is it?" A familiar voice responds after an awkward, impatient pause. Everyone crowds around the phone in anticipation. No one had really contacted Nico while she was gone, and she didn't make any attempts to contact the others either. She seemed to just distance herself after graduation combined with recent events, and her curt tone justified it. "Honoka?"

"H-Hey, Nico, been a while, uh, you're on speaker. The old gang's met up..." the redhead faded away as she reminisced back to their idol days, but returns shortly after.

"Wh-what? What happened? Did someone die?" The group sighs.

"What? No. Eli came to visit...and...uh...long story short, she got...uh..." Everyone moved around uncomfortably in their seats as Honoka tried her best to come up with an appropriate euphemism. "Eli was...taken to the woodshed...on the way here." The other line went silent for a while. Not even ambient noise was present. "Hello?"

"Yeah. I...I'm still here." Her tone had shifted to one of contemplation. "Is it because of the whole scandal?" Honoka laughs at the fact that there are numerous scandals related to µ's to pick from.

"Which one?" Honoka sheepishly replies. Nico profoundly exhales as if explaining herself was a chore.

"The whole wiretapping business? A school caught using it to intercept messages between UTX? Surprised you didn't hear about it..."

"I'm...not sure I know which one that is..." Honoka looks at μ's who she seems to be speaking for as well.

"Well some school about to be bought out by UTX was caught wiretapping other schools UTX was buying out." Stories of μ's were written en masse, not really giving any of them to opportunity to dig through them all. They figured they weren't worth reading anyways. Almost all of them were biased or influenced in some way, and they could tell just by the author's tone alone. The thought of a driving force behind it was painfully obvious.

"Basically the principal gets slandered to death. School shut down and everything," Nico finishes her story. "Guy actually died too by some gang related drive by. Only 46 years old." Nico sighs, but this time out of sympathy. "Worst part is there's evidence that the evidence of the wiretapping was planted, and a sloppy job at that. Obviously they're pinning it somehow on µ's. A shame..."

After a pause, Honoka shatters the silence once more. "I was wondering...if you suggest anything for us to do to stop UTX." The whole group knew UTX was behind it all. From stopping the protests, the "unbiased" journalism and even the stalking, UTX were clearly the criminals in question. "Since we all are...here anyways."

"What do you want us to do then, start a gang?"

With this, Honoka went silent again. She knew that Nico wasn't being serious, but she couldn't help but giggle to herself. Sure, people were dying, the community was falling apart and businesses are being threatened, but a sick, psychopathic laugh was certainly in order. The others threw away their fear and joined in too. They all began roaring pointlessly in laughter.

"What else are we gonna do, just sit here and take it?" Shocked at the response she got, Nico remained silent with her mouth hanging open, trying to find words that weren't there.

It made sense to everyone now. A simultaneous epiphany struck them all. Fear and anger meant nothing in the end. It drove them forward, it made them talk and it made them feel, but in the end, there was no intrinsic value in them. Casting it aside openly, they resolved to start a gang.

Kotori was the first to touchdown back to reality. "Y-You're not serious, right?" Rin, drunk on delusion, grabs Kotori's shoulder and looked her in the eye. In the most sincere voice she heard Rin speak in, Kotori heard,

"We don't know, and we don't care!"

* * *

 **Wew, finally. Something to do with the mafia at last. Now begins the meat of the story.**

 **Thanks anyways,  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	7. Death Outside My Window

"Wait, what?" Nico still didn't how to respond, hearing only the commotion of insane laughter on the other line. "What's going on?"

"We're starting a gang!" Eli yells, as if she were announcing it to the world.

"Funny..." Nico decided to leave them to their devices and hung up, not bothering to involve herself in their silly exploits.

Kotori was the only one that stopped laughing, pulling back on the cloak of anxiety that once hung over all of them. "What's the matter Kotori? Are you scared?" Honoka chortles, tugging on Kotori's sleeve.

"I don't...understand..." Kotori was more confused than anything.

"It's settled. We're starting a gang," Nozomi says, indistinguishable between genuinity and jocularity.

"A mafia!" Honoka blurts.

"Alright! We're fighting them once and for all!" In a painfully awkward way, the laughter died down between them all. Fear began to seep back faster.

"I..." Honoka sighs, closing the flip phone and looking into the eyes of all her friends. The mood was silent and tense again. "I want to do this." With the energy drained out of them, they weren't sure if they wanted to laugh or not. "Nico is right."

"What do you mean?" Maki says worriedly, twirling her hair in her fingers. "Don't tell me you're being serious now..."

"There's nothing we can do, is there?" Honoka replies, ignoring Maki's last statement. "Tell me, how do you think we'll end this?"

"UTX is dangerous and all, but, crime?" Kotori chuckles at the thought of school idol mafias. "That's a little..."

"It does seem like a bit much," Rin adds.

"...enough..." Honoka mutters. "I've had enough. If I lose this school, there's nowhere for me to go." Nozomi puts her hand on Honoka's shoulder.

"I don't think it'll be-"

"I can't afford to lose this school," Honoka interrupts Nozomi, who retracts away from her hand. "My family can't afford to move. The store's no longer safe. If Otonokizaka closes down, I have nowhere to turn."

Maki shakes her head. "I still don't understand; crime? Why crime? Can't we-"

"Can't we what? What solution do you have in mind?" Maki stops twirling her hair and looks at the others for refuge but find none. "Don't any of you get it? There's no other option we have!"

"I'm sure there's...gotta be something..." Hanayo squeaks, looking at the rest for comfort.

"Please don't drag me into this," Eli groans offhandedly. At this, Honoka snaps,

"Then don't! I'm not forcing anyone into this, because I know you all hate it when I do." At this, the girls pulled back, somehow making the silence even quieter. "If I have to do this alone, I will. But if you plan on stopping me, don't." The redhead stands up, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. "I'm killing UTX even if it kills me."

As she storms to the door, Nozomi grabs Honoka's hand, more forcefully than before. "Stop," Nozomi says.

"Let go-"

"What are you doing, Honoka? I don't know what you have in mind, but are you really going to-"

"If I have to throw away my life, I will! I won't have anything left if I just stand here anyways!" Ordinarily, the girls would think that Honoka was saying all of this out of passionate rage, but, knowing Honoka, she was most likely dead serious.

"Listen to yourself!" Nozomi yells. After a pause, Honoka shrugged off Nozomi's hand as she reaches the door. Honoka's mind was racing. She found it strange herself that it wasn't being fueled by rage, but compulsion. She didn't want to back off, and she stood by it. Honoka learned long ago that change wasn't always pleasant, wasn't always envied and eagerly waited upon. However, here she was, forcibly shifting her life into something completely different. For her, there were risks to take, new obstacles to overcome, but at the same time, there were new consequences in the horizon. Honoka kept on walking, not bothering to stop, knowing that the girls would just follow her.

"I don't care how many times you tell me; there's nothing left." She looks out at the sky, which was in the middle of transitioning to night, as if the sunset marked a beginning, rather than an end. "At least for me."

 _"No, we just have to think about it!"_

 _"Honoka, don't do this."_

 _"You could really get in trouble!"_

The door closed along with all of their voices, which all desperately but futilely tried to stop their friend. Not long after the door closed, it opened again. Voices followed Honoka like meddling ghosts. Soon after, they stopped. The sound of scuffling footsteps also stopped with all five of them standing on the sidewalk, watching hopelessly as Honoka kept on walking.

"Hey." A lone voice called behind them. All six turned toward the source. In the shadow of the night stood a familiar figure. For most of µ's, "familiar" was bit of a stretch. As if on cue, Kira Tsubasa steps into the light radiating from inside, revealing her signature observant look. "Evening." Her presence shocked every one of them, not even noticing the red wrapped present she held in her hand. The red box had a yellow ribbon tied neatly on top, reminiscent to that of a Christmas gift. "I...didn't think I'd have to do this." Without a reaction from the girls, Kira approaches them with confidence. The breeze picks up and leaves skitter among the sidewalk and road as Honoka's silhouette, now small and almost insignificant, began to blend into the rest of the night.

"Ts-Tsubasa?" Eli says, just as confused as everyone else.

"Everyone?" she extends her arm to reveal the present, glinting from the indoor light. The wrapping job seemed impossibly perfect, without a wrinkle in sight; perhaps it was because they were out in the dark. "I'd rather you not tell UTX I did this." Hesitantly, Nozomi takes the box and looks at Kira, who nods. Unwrapping it delicately, Nozomi looks into the lid. Her eyes widen.

"Wh-What is-"

"Don't be scared now." The group gasped incredulously, not knowing if they wanted to see it for themselves or back away. Inside the box was a small .380 handgun, cushioned by felt as not to make a sound in the box. "Consider it a housewarming gift for your new little mafia." At this, the girls looked away from the box and at Kira with the same fear still in their eyes. "What, you think I didn't know about what happened? It's no surprise that you're still new to the game." Kira casually swept her head from side to side, observing each facial expression from the six with precise speed. "Oh please, that's nothing to be scared about. Call it Honoka's. It was meant for her anyways."

"Why did you..." Eli lost the words she needed to finish her sentence, her tongue tied in knots as she couldn't stop herself from staring at the innocently wrapped present. "You know this could get us-"

"Yeah? And?" Kira maintained what seemed like a facade, only freaking out the girls more. Kira continued to show an infinite well of patience. "Alright. Make what you will of it. A gift, a threat, whatever. I see it as a test."

"Test?" Nozomi says, closing the box and checking her surroundings. Luckily for them, the street was dead quiet, a rare sight to see in this certain avenue.

"If Honoka can get away with having that, she'll have my respect."

"But why did you have to do this?" Nozomi retorts, shaking the box at her last word. "Something so reckless and-" Kira's audible and profound sigh cut Nozomi off. "Hey, I'm trying to say some-"

"Alright, alright! I get it. You don't want the gun? I'll take it back." Kira outstretched the same hand she used to hold the box earlier. "Your choice."

"We have no choice, don't we?" Maki whispers to herself. If Nozomi accepted the gift, it would show that she was submissive, not to mention she would be possessing an illegal firearm. But if Nozomi declined and it was intended to be given to Honoka, Nozomi might be throwing away something they will really need in the future. Not only that, but she also shows her submission by following Kira's demands. It was a painfully simple trap, one that didn't require much thought, yet had so much power. "I..."

"I?" Kira closes her eyes and smiles, holding an almost bored expression. Her face was always in a kind of smirk, with hints of emotions mixed in; smirking impatiently, smirking joyfully, smirking angrily. Kira had an eerie mask that purposefully let only a little bit of the face behind it peek.

"I'm keeping it," Nozomi finally spits out. Kira opens her eyes and breathes deeply, looking into Nozomi's turquoise-green irises. Nozomi's face was undergoing a full-scale analysis, and she doesn't even know it. Nozomi stamps her foot towards Kira. "Y-You don't scare me. You don't scare us. I'm keeping it." Her voice wavered as she said it, making Kira smirk. Despite Nozomi's ever-present mysterious attitude, now, she was an open book. She was as nervous and afraid as the remaining four.

"So you take up my challenge?" The A-RISE member nods. "Good. I'm glad." Turning around, she walks away as if nothing had happened, hands in her pockets and all. The silence of the night returned once more as if nothing had even happened.

"Wh-what do we do now?" Rin squeals. Kotori grunted.

"I know what we're doing..." Kotori huffe, fuming and breathing heavily. Nobody had ever seen her so furious before. Kotori was never the type to get angry, but this moment proved them wrong. They were all scared of her, but they knew that Kotori was scared as well. "We're following that brat and we're getting to the bottom of this!" The way she said it was so out of character that the others didn't even bother stopping her before they realized what she meant.

"K-Kotori, wait a moment!" Nozomi races after her, but Kotori was already storming down the sidewalk, following the figure in the distance that was Kira. "W-wait! Kotori!" Kotori didn't even turn around, caught up in a mixture of jogging and sprinting. All Kotori could hear was her own heartbeat and the thundering sound of her footsteps. Soon after, the rest of the girls chased after her.

A minute passed as Kotori continued to catch up to Kira. In only sixty seconds, they managed to cover about three blocks, with twists and turns along the way. Not once did Kotori turn her head to face the friends following her. She was dead set on meeting Tsubasa, fueled by rage and the conviction that Kotori could stop UTX herself. By now Kotori was approaching arm's length, and her hand was ready to snag Kira on the shoulder. With one swift motion, Kira took something of her pocket, which made a clicking noise, and pointed it directly at Kotori's face.

Kotori's expression dropped in an instant. A gun was being held right in her face, and Kira was standing there nonchalantly with her other hand in her pocket. Kotori's eyes, which were once flaming hot coals, had returned back to its fearful state. Kira's smirk had a little more exasperation than before. "Try me." Her voice, which once performed and continues to perform in front of a worldwide audience with sweet songs, had turned lethally dark. Kotori's friends, who were still rounding the corner, saw the situation and immediately froze.

µ's was so busy tunnel-visioning in their pursuit that they didn't even realize how empty the buildings were here. There was no one to shout to or call for help. Of course Kira's escort was stationed in a place like this. Kotori was blindly enraged and her friends were too anxious to even think about it. Half of them didn't even understand what was going on. Kotori was shaking. Just a second ago, she had finally snapped from the stress and fear that had haunted her everyday. She was right back to square one.

Kira laughed. "You look so funny cross-eyed like that!" Kotori's eyes were focused on the barrel of the gun, her life flashing before her eyes. "Kneel." Kira's dry voice returned. Kotori dropped herself on the ground, her gaze still fixated on the weapon. Kira giggles and smirks once more. "Good girl." She puts away her gun and gets into a car waiting for her. It was a sleek, black car, a modern design perfectly suited for a school like UTX. "See ya!" The back seat door closed as the car drove off, leaving nothing behind but a ghastly pale Kotori.

* * *

 **Whoa there. Almost forgot to put in a chapter for today. Right now, I'm just trying to rework some outline things, hopefully to have this whole plot make more sense.**

 **Thanks anyways,  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	8. Unexpected Guests

Saturday had finally arrived.

The rain came around again, and this time, it refused to budge. The weekend weather wasn't the only thing gloomy. Honoka was gazing mindlessly at the water pounding the ground. The feelings of confusion and shock were beginning to die down, at least for her. She wasn't sure about the others. "Not that I care..." Honoka rolls over onto her bed, pulling the covers over herself. She was in her own little world, just by herself. It wasn't that large, neither was it that interesting. "What can I do...?" Honoka lets her mind drift into dreams of grandeur and gunning down UTX on a helicopter.

"Honoka!" her mother called downstairs. The sudden sound in the otherwise tranquil abode shook her awake before she could fall asleep. Slightly disgruntled, Honoka forces her body and makes her way downstairs. "It's Nozomi. She says she came here to pick you up for something." Honoka looks up in surprise, coming out of her half-sleepiness.

"Pick me up?" Honoka rushes down the stairs and sees Nozomi, with her coat and scarf on. The purple-haired girl closes her eyes and waves innocently at Honoka. The latter didn't know what she was being picked up to, but she got the message that it was important. Nodding to Nozomi, she went back upstairs and returned only a minute later, dressed up to go outside.

"R-Right. I forgot. Sorry, Nozomi," Honoka lies, looking at her mom who nods, scolding her for "forgetting" with just her look alone. Honoka couldn't help but glance at the camera hanging from the wall, always watching, always waiting. It was unnerving to have it in contrast with the otherwise traditional store.

When they left the candy shop, Honoka could do nothing but follow where Nozomi was going. However, the latter wasn't lazily promenading. She had a destination, and Honoka could tell by her pace. "Where are we going?" the redhead asks innocently. Nozomi continues to stare forward with her relaxed smile, seemingly ignoring Honoka. "Hey, Nozomi, where are we?" Nozomi looks at Honoka with the same expression and puts her finger to her lips.

"It's a secret," Nozomi whispers. Honoka's brow furrowed. That only exacerbated her curiosity. Nozomi and Honoka cross a street, waving at a car who stopped for them on the way. The crowd on the sidewalk was growing busier with every step the girls took to their destination. Eventually, Nozomi forcibly takes Honoka's hand and drags her along an especially busy street. Bothered by how she didn't have enough time to apologize to everyone she bumped into, Honoka asks one more time,

"Nozomi, where are we-" Honoka was interrupted by a sharp tug from Nozomi, almost causing the redhead to lose her step. "Hey! What are you...oh...sorry, excuse-" Honoka spots from above the sea of heads a thinner section of the crowd. Nozomi sees it too, but instead of steering towards a space of fresh air, Nozomi only delves the opposite direction, in an even thicker sidewalk. 'Are we running away from something?' Honoka thinks to herself, admiring Nozomi's adamant steps, unfazed by the mugginess of the air. There was very little room between each person. The air was hot and humid, enough so that Honoka began panting and sweating when combined with the brisk walking. Conversations and sounds of all sorts all melded together to a loud cacophony of nonsense. She puts a hand to her forehead, feeling a headache come on worryingly fast. Honoka wasn't claustrophobic, but anyone in this scenario certainly would be.

Almost out of nowhere, Honoka was towed by Nozomi out of the crowd. A sudden gust of cool air hit Honoka like a wall. 'I'm inside somewhere' Honoka thought, feeling the stench and heat of being in the middle of a crowd escape her like putting down a heavy stack of books.

"There they are," a voice calls. Honoka opens her eyes and find her friends all sitting around a cafe table in a plethora of hair styles. She guessed that was their way of trying to be someone else without going overboard. Much to her surprise, Umi was here, and so was Nico, initially reluctant to come. A large semi-circle was formed in the wall, making a large booth enough for them all to fit in. Honoka and Nozomi scoot in, forcing the others to do the same.

"Glad most of us can make it," Eli says, eyeing the other girls. A weird emptiness hung over them all; they all wanted to talk amiably about their lives since their last reunion, but instead knew better. "Now, I know this is on short notice, but we need to discuss our plan for the future. I won't explain further about the situation. Everyone knows about it already."

"Why did we have to all the way here, nya?" Rin asks, her hair in two small pigtails.

"Ironically, public spaces are our friend. We can hide here with crowds. It's hard for them to follow us. Safety in numbers, right?" Eli responds. "And, before anyone asks, we shouldn't talk on phones or text anymore."

"Why is that?" Kotori was the one to ask, her hair dyed darker and her green bow replaced with a red ribbon that sat on the back of her head.

"I...I don't think it would be too ridiculous to say that UTX is tracking us." Hanayo, whose hair had a single ponytail stuck on the side of her hair like Honoka's, squeaked in slight worry.

"Wh-Why would they want to track us? What're they...g-gonna do to us?" Eli nods, having expected that question.

"It wouldn't surprise me if they did, and it's because they might see us as a threat. Now I don't have any definitive proof of this, but, it wouldn't hurt to err on the side of caution." The others agreed. Who knows who else UTX was targeting next?

"A threat? Us? What did we do to them?" Maki spits, realizing the answer to her own question immediately after she asked it.

"The protests? UTX's public opinion? A lot of things are at stake for them. Our moves will certainly matter," Eli takes a deep breath, wondering if she would be recognized in her double braids. "Whenever we meet..." She looks to her left and right and motions the others to move in in a huddle. "There's always a possibility for danger."

"Wait," Nozomi rummages for something in her purse. The girls weren't interested enough to crane their necks, when they ordinarily would have. "Honoka." The redhead looks up from her thoughts. Nozomi's hand was holding a red box. It wasn't wrapped like the other girls remembered, but they certainly recognized its significance. Only Umi, Nico and Honoka were kept in the dark. "This...isn't from me." Honoka looked around at her friends, most of them knowing what it was, before taking the box like a delicate Christmas present. "It's from Kira."

Honoka was hesitant at first. She took off the lid gingerly, revealing what was inside. Nozomi shifted in her seat, trying to cover up the box's contents from the rest of the crowd. "It's..." Umi looked away, but Nico was more intrigued.

"A gu-" Eli covered Nico's mouth, prompting everyone's looks of disapproval for the latter.

"Yes, we can see. She gave it to us after you left us that night, Honoka. It's for concealed carry, most likely," Nozomi adds, folding her hands together. "She told me to give it you." Honoka was trying to process what she was looking at. Closing the lid slowly, she takes the box and puts it in her jacket. Her face remained stagnant, as if she didn't care what she saw. However, judging by the rigidity of her movements and the begging look she gave her friends, they understood. Honoka was trying her best to remain calm and collected on the outside, no matter how much screaming she has to do on the inside.

Eli awaits for the silence to take its course before clearing her throat. "...alright. Now, regarding our movements, we shouldn't do much at night. Now, we need at least five possible meeting locations. We won't know which one it is, so we need to hit each five of them," Eli says.

"That doesn't sound very efficient. Why don't we just get a safehouse?" Honoka suggests. While a safehouse sounded efficient, that means they would actually have to get one. Not only that, but somehow keep it secure.

"I like that idea," Nozomi steps in. "However, it does make it a target for UTX if they manage to track it down."

"We need some way to...deter any possible stalkers. Public places will only make that harder. They can hide in them too," Maki says, twirling her hair while staring at an empty spot on the table. She never thought she would be having this kind of conversation with her friends until now.

"How about we borrow a business?" Rin whispers. The others shake their head.

"Easily trackable," Eli looks up to see if anyone was watching. Luckily, the line and the amount of people in the cafe was still thick enough to drown out their presence and conversation. She relaxes a bit and leans back on her table, no longer in her huddled position. "I still think it's better if we have designated meeting spots."

"Well...there's gotta be some way to hide our things without being spotted." The girls thought for a moment, but couldn't imagine somewhere where they couldn't be tracked down eventually. If it was a static position, then they they could use it for refuge and storage, but it could be pinpointed. If their safehouse was dynamic and constantly changing, it would be harder to locate, but they would have to haul their goods everywhere, whatever they may be.

"Any of you know how to drive?" Eli asks, raising her own hand by the elbow. Only Nozomi and Maki raised their hands. "Are there any spare vehicles we can use?" Maki immediately let her hand drop to the table.

"I didn't say I would be doing anything," she says, getting defensive.

"Then why did you raise your hand?" Eli asks sternly, returning Maki's slight hostility.

"You asked if I could drive, and I, sort of, know how to." Maki twirled her hair as she said it.

"But I thought this whole time, we all agreed to-"

"Wait, wait, I hope I'm not giving off the wrong idea..." Rin started, looking to Hanayo.

"Y-Yeah. I thought we were just giving you guys ideas..." the latter adds, staring at her lap.

"We didn't mention anything about _doing_ it." Rin looks up to the faces of faint disappointment. "Sorry if you all thought..."

"No. It's fine. I guess I should have made it more clear..." Umi remained silent. She told herself when she had come over that she was only doing this because she had to, because she was obligated to be here, unless they bother her even further. She had planned to leave anyways, and her family agreed that it was the best decision.

As the group sat still, their conversation dead in the water, Honoka spots in the corner of her eye someone staring right at them. It was a girl of their age, with long, dark magenta hair and almond eyes. The moment the girl noticed that Honoka was looking right back at her, the former immediately looks back down on her phone, pretending to only have glanced momentarily. However, she made the mistake of checking too soon. Looking back up, she and Honoka lock eyes again.

The girl suddenly gets up from her seat and talks to someone on the phone, still looking at Honoka and the group. Pushing her chair in, two other blonde schoolgirls sitting nearby µ's stand up as well, all on the phone, and all looking at µ's. By now, Honoka wasn't the only one that noticed that three people were just watching them. The three girls looked away simultaneously, almost as if they didn't care that they were spotted. They started walking to the door when Honoka stands up, tailing the trio.

"What are you doing, Honoka?" Nozomi reached out to grab Honoka's shirt, but failed to do so, forcing her to stand up. "Hey, wait!" The mysterious girls were out the door by the time Honoka had gotten up, but she went out to search for them anyways. She found one of them, with the conspicuous dark magenta hair, getting away in the crowd. Honoka weathered the air of the hot crowd, which only worsened as it was about noon. After a few close calls of losing her, the amount of people began to thin.

"Yeah. Mido reporting," she talks to someone on the phone in a flat, monotone voice. Before Honoka could grab her by the shoulder, another girl grabs her by the shoulder. Whirling around expected an armed gunman, Honoka sees that it was just another school girl. She was a different one however, matching none of the three girls that were watching µ's earlier.

"Hey, what are you-" A hand clamped over Honoka's mouth. Not too rough, for they were in public, but enough to tell Honoka to be quiet. Honoka watches motionlessly as Mido is lost with the rest of the commuters. After that, the girl holding onto Honoka's mouth lets go. She had grayish brown hair and deep, sparkling blue eyes. Honoka could've fallen in love if she hadn't just let her target get away.

"Don't worry about me," she says, still checking over Honoka's shoulder to see that Mido was really gone. "We're following her too."

"Who?"

"Our group. It's alright. I know what you're doing." Honoka had no clue what this girl was talking about. "You're Kousaka Honoka, from µ's, right?" Before Honoka could interject asking how she knew her, the girl cuts in,

"Call me You. Fan of your work." You takes out her phone and quickly texts something before putting her phone away. "Come on. We should be safe for now. They're just intermediaries." Grabbing Honoka's hand, You leads her past the crowd and down a street. "You sure she's here, Chika?" After some searching through the intersection, You finds Mido entering a car. "Dammit." Taking out her phone, she says as she types,

"Already secured transport-" A sudden pop filled the air as something chipped away from the wall behind Honoka and You. Shrapnel of brick and mortar flew around, forcing the two to duck and brush away the dust. You curses. "Did they just fire at us?" Honoka's eyes widened.

"That was a gunshot?" You looks at Honoka funny before telling whoever she was texting about it. Another pop rang throughout the streets. To an unsuspecting citizen, that pop could've been a balloon.

"Come on, I think they've sent people-" Another, bigger bullet hit the wall behind the pair, sending even more particles of cement and stone flying out. "-yep, they have. I'll take you to our safehouse." With Honoka in hand, You runs out onto the street blindly, where a car screeches to a halt right in front of them. You touches the hood of the car and waves apologetically, ignoring the driver's infuriated remarks. "Better hurry. Snipers are a pain." You shoves herself in a group of people walking together. "Excuse me, just gotta..." Before dashing out of the group of people she used as cover, You waits until the supposed vantage point holding the sniper was covered by a building. "Almost there, Honoka."

You slows down her pace and wiggles her way through a narrow squeeze between two buildings, which left only about two rulers worth of space. You makes a left on an intersection of four other tight alleyways. Honoka exhales, relieved that they were out of danger. She looks around, noticing how excessive moss grew prosperously on the walls and floor of the alleyway, some of it even rubbing off on Honoka's clothes. 'How am I gonna explain this to Mom?'

After sidestepping down the alleyway for a while, You gets on another, wider alleyway perpendicular to the one both of them were just in. Here, the girls had enough space to walk freely. Honoka almost screamed at the scurrying of a rat. "Was that a-"

"Sorry for the, uh, mess," You bangs on the door once. "I'm home!" After a while, the door opens. What looked to be a regular door was heavier than Honoka previously imagined, judging by the sound of it rattling and squeaking on the hinges. Honoka wondered to herself if that vault-like door was stolen somewhere. "Brought a guest with me, you might recognize her."

The turquoise eyes of someone exactly the same height as Nico look up with a mix of reverence and awe. "Ruby's meeting µ's?"

* * *

 **Wew. Some internet issues almost prevented me from posting another chapter. I'll try to get a little more psychological and mental as these go on, just so that this'll make more sense. Again, I'm trying to leave as little plot holes and unrealistic and random changes of thought as possible. Anyways, some action's definitely coming up.**

 **Thanks anyways,  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	9. End of the Beginning

Honoka takes a deep breath. A wave of nausea momentarily passed her, realizing how close she was to death. Realizing that the leader of µ's was ghastly pale, You smiles with pity. "Alright, come on. Don't get caught up over that," You says compassionately, somehow unable to empathize how she was a few months ago. "It'll happen from time to time."

"I...I think I'm gonna..." Honoka covers her mouth, her face still colorless. She leans against the door for support, breaking into a cold sweat.

"Come on, don't be like that," You looks at Ruby for comfort, but neither provide any. "You're the one who wanted be in the mafia game, right?" Honoka's eyes remained at the floor. "Honoka, look at me for a minute." Reluctantly, Honoka's blue eyes land on You. "Look. They wouldn't have killed us. I know because we were in public." Honoka looked at Ruby, who nods in return.

"Sh-She's right, I suppose," Ruby adds with her eyes closed.

"If we got shot in the streets, that'd cause an unnecessary headache for UTX." Honoka uncovers her mouth, swallowing hard and slowly beginning to regain her composure. "There'd be blood on the streets, and you're the center of µ's, and all this controversy, it goes on and on." An epiphany occurred to Honoka, or rather, a reminder that there can always be another reason why something happened. "Even if they planned to cover this from from the start, that's not how UTX plays. They get money from covering us, you know?" Honoka's expression suggested that this was news to her, to which You sighs. "I thought you were serious about this."

"I...I am! I am serious in saving the...school..." Honoka cuts off her own sentence, realizing the contradiction behind it.

"Are you now?" You says in an affectionately patronizing way. "Alright, alright. I get it. You're...a beginner, in this field."

'That's one way to put it' Honoka thinks to herself, new thoughts arising in her head. How far are all of them willing to go? Will they have to steal? How will they deal with the police? Will they harm anyone in the process? Honoka sits down at a small table with two other chairs, presumably for both Ruby and You. A small hanging lamp was the sole source of light in the room. Since the light came from above, shadows were generated downward. The empty, dilapidated, cement room combined with minimal furniture and lighting made the atmosphere cinematic.

"I'm willing for me and my group to show you the ropes." Ruby glares at You. "A-As long as, Don's okay with it...for sure..."

"Who's Don?" Honoka asks, having seemingly recovered from her escape of death.

"The Don. The boss. We call her that. In ordinary circumstances, I wouldn't be so quick to trust you, but, I think I know you enough to skip the formalities." You gets out her phone and starts searching for someone to call. "I'll just ask her in case." Thinking back to what Eli was talking about earlier, Honoka speaks up.

"Uh...You?" You looks up from her phone.

"Yeah?"

"I..." Honoka thinks of how to word it without sounding too rude or informal. Even though they just met, Honoka found it to be strange how amiably You was treating her. "I don't think it's a good idea to use the phone." You was about to hit call when she stops herself, looks at her phone, then back up to Honoka.

"Why not?"

"It's...possible that they...listen in on your calls." You's brow furrowed.

"Who does?"

"Well, I mean, would it be a stretch to say that...maybe...UTX is tapping your calls?" You thought about it, looking down on her phone and the contact that was on the screen. Honoka awaited to be talked down for being ignorant for suggesting such a thing, but she decided it was worth mentioning anyways.

"I mean, we didn't think it was a big deal. We discussed this. Our group, I mean. Someone brought up wiretapping," You looks down on her phone and wonders back to the conversation. It was a physical meeting, with all nine of her group gathered around a small table. "That was...a while ago." She thought back, wondering how much information her group alone had given away for free. "I don't think they are. They would've acted upon it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we've shown our plans, and..." You still couldn't shake away the doubt on her mind. "Wouldn't they have destroyed us by now?" Honoka leans forward, putting her head on both of her hands.

"You did say they made money off of us, right? Off of messing with us somehow? What if they're keeping you alive just to monopolize on it?" Ruby looks at You, awaiting an explosive response. She knew that You in particular didn't like being questioned when it came to business. Instead, You only leans back on her chair, folding her arms. It came as a surprise to Honoka how You could change her own mood, always with an edge of suspicion. She had only just met the girl, but it was an interesting dynamic to observe.

"I...can't argue with that." You looks to her side. Her eyes land on a hole in the wall close to the floor. It wasn't too sizable, just the perfect size for a rat to fit through. "But, don't you think if we've been trying to mess with their industry this whole time, which we have, we'd be on their radar?" You looks back to Honoka across the table, who had a confused look on her face. The lighting made it look menacing, as if You put Honoka in a fit of pique for daring to disagree, but You knew better.

"Of course you'd be on the radar."

"And I'm trying to say, if we're that dangerous, their industry would have taken care of us by now?"

"Industry? You mean A-RISE?" You shakes her head.

"Their underground industry. Their ties to the black market. You know, the other schools?" Unfortunately for You, it wasn't getting through to Honoka. "I knew you were new, but I didn't think you were _this_ new." You puts a hand to her forehead, closing her eyes as to say that she were frustrated with having to constantly explain herself. There wasn't a window, but the light coming from underneath the door suggested that it was still day outside; time of the day that You and Ruby could be using to get back to their home base. "Look, I'd love to get you in contact with Ms. Takami, but it seems like phones might be a bad decision." Honoka looks down apologetically. Sensing her guilt, You's expression and tone softens. "I didn't mean to come off as accusatory. I just...don't know what else to tell you. I don't know how else to contact my boss." As uncomfortable as they were calling their fellow classmate "their boss", they forced themselves to do so in front of strangers. "I'll find a way somehow."

"I...think my friends might be worried," Honoka says to break the tension.

"Call them," You spits, immediately regretting her hostility. Surprisingly however, Honoka reaches into her pocket and produces a cell phone. "Wait..." Honoka looks up from her phone, where she already dialed Nozomi, and looks back up to You.

"I thought you didn't believe that they tapped your lines," Honoka replies, a slight smugness present in her voice.

"Y-Yeah, but, you just said..."

"As long as the message is vague. It doesn't matter. The cell tower radius is pretty large in this part of the city too," Honoka stands up and opens the door. "I'll tell them what's going on." As the phone rang awaiting to be picked up, she continues. "And if you've called in your safehouse before and they haven't pinpointed its location, then there's no worry of them finding us now, right?" You hesitated before reluctantly nodding. Ruby only looked down at the five-seven sitting on her lap. Ruby refused to hold a gun bigger than her arm, and affectionately calls the pistol "Onii-chan", stating that it's her little and big brother at the same time. Some thought Ruby personified the firearm so she could make its presence more palatable; others thought Ruby was just being a kid.

After a while, a worried Nozomi picked up. While their conversation was short, Honoka only explained that she was at a safehouse with another schoolgirl, much to everyone's dismay. Umi grabs the phone out of Nozomi's hand and screams, her volume forcing Honoka to hold her phone at arm's length. "You're alone in a room with two strangers?! Honoka, get the hell out of there! What if they-"

"Umi, calm down. If they wanted to kill me, they-"

"Honoka. I am telling you right now. This is for your own good. For the love of all that is holy, PLEASE-"

"It doesn't sound very safe, I know, but I trust these people-"

"There's no question! Get out of that place or they'll kill you. I'LL kill you-" Honoka realizes the same conversational loop will keep going, and that their stubbornness will bring them nowhere new in the end.

"Alright, alright. I'm gonna hang up now."

"Honoka? Honoka, don't even-" Umi's voice rang loudly enough for the three of them to hear even though the phone wasn't on speaker. Honoka hangs up the call and sighs.

You sighs with her. "I need to get going soon, but I feel like µ's needs to know this. You need to know this." You explains what else happens to schools "consolidated" by UTX. "They pick the idol group out of there and try their best to get them into the mafia business." Honoka would've laughed if she weren't in such a similar position. "It sounds like a very roundabout way of doing this, but, I heard a lot about you in the news. All around my area, schools are starting to stand up against you guys. I...I can tell you that's not how UTX treated us, and I suppose it isn't how they treated the other schools they took as well.

"I know you guys aren't what the newspapers say you are, and I know those are all somehow influenced by UTX. Maybe they just wanna mess with you, I don't know. But what I do know, is how they rope 'em in. The idol groups join willingly at first, but, if they don't comply, they use underhanded tactics. Not usually threatening their life per se, but, something around where the win conditions are giving in to UTX's scheme, to put it simply." You gave Honoka some time to absorb the information. The exposition was rather sudden, after all. It explained most of the events that occurred this week. Everything from the slandering of Nozomi to the presence of Kira Tsubasa. "Then, they have proxies under their command. They can get schools to trade in the black market, deal drugs, traffic people, all sorts of messed up business, and they have layers of schools and underlings. It's...actually impressive, how everything's set up."

Honoka thought about it, and asked, "What about the police? How do...how do they get away with so much?" You chuckles.

"Well, it's certainly not easy for UTX, but they promise protection from the police. I'm sure it's something as simple as corrupting the chief, I don't know how they do it. They told us, and I think they tell everyone, including their enemies, that everything's covered. Everyone plays on a fair field," You responds. She closes her eyes and remembers when an intermediary for UTX had told Chika those exact words. "Everyone plays on a fair field." The whole thing was ominous to Honoka, and she was beginning to sweat out of anxiety. What had she gotten herself into? "They follow their word, too. But let me warn you, they only cover you when UTX is involved." Honoka returns an expression of curiosity, as if to ask for an explanation without having to say anything. "Our private drug deals? Our exchanges with schools? That's our problem. If we deal with UTX directly, then they cover for any car chases, or murders, or whatever hell goes on." You sighs in relief internally, glad she elucidated when she did.

"Alright, I don't...frankly understand...most of what you said, but...why do they pick idols?" Honoka asks, looking at both Ruby and You. You looks up at the lamp thoughtfully, watching the inner workings of the weak bulb intently without damaging her eyes. A lot of what had happened to You and her own "mafia" had revolved around the word "why", and she imagined it would be the same for µ's when their time comes. Why did they choose to be just as bad as UTX? Why did they keep doing it? Why couldn't they stop? She and a lot of her friends found themselves asking that question, only to have some distraction or new dilemma to resolve come up before they could answer it.

"You know, I'm not exactly sure. I guess they're physically fit, and I guess they have some influence over their audience and surroundings. It doesn't make sense to me either why they would target idols. In any case, that's who they're targeting, and we better do something about it." Delinquents would want to do things their own way, chuunbiyous would wake up to reality eventually, ordinary people would seem to difficult to convince—perhaps idols really were the only option left. Honoka asked herself "Why?" as well. Why did her mind gravitate towards crime so easily? She had laid in bed for what seemed like entire nights, trying to find an answer she knows she won't find until later down the path. She wasn't one to believe in the stars and spirits as much as Nozomi did, but Honoka almost felt like she was being told what to do by something beyond herself.

"So...what do we do from here?" Honoka asks innocently, bringing everyone's attention away from their thoughts. You leaned forward again, clasping her hands together and looking at the table, trying to come up with something to say.

"What're you planning on doing with this information, Honoka?" Honoka reciprocated You's tense demeanor. It wasn't the same tensity as the silence that hung over everyone when they learned about what was happening. It felt like a pivotal tension hidden inside trivialities and what seemed like the monotony of everyday exploits, but Honoka wasn't sure. Maybe she was blowing everything out of proportion.

"I..." Ruby now looked up from her gun to Honoka, awaiting an answer. Honoka admitted to herself. Her team didn't have guns, or safehouses, or anything to defend themselves from UTX and their power. She realized long ago that this might be the point of no return, the point in which she may never live a normal life that she thought she would. What did a normal life even mean anymore? Honoka resolved to think of only what she can do. Everything will be lengthy and tedious, everythingw will cost an arm and a leg, everything might be the last thing you do. She sighs before looking up at both You and Ruby, who were still sitting with bated breath.

"I think I'll try my best."

* * *

 **Well, there's the "end" of the exposition. It took almost a third of the whole story to get it started, but I hope it's enough and at the same time not boringly slow.**

 **Thanks anyways,  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	10. New Toys

The girls were back together at another cafe, thankful to not have been noticed by the public. It was surprising that that was the case even with everything happening to them. All of µ's were sitting together like they promised they would when they broke up, but they never believed the reason why they would be congregating on such short notice. This time, Honoka brought with her two unfamiliar schoolgirls claiming to have come from a three hour train ride just to meet them, and confirmed that the cafe was clear of spies. "Everyone," Honoka calls the attention of her companions, all sitting gloomily without a word. They all look up uncomfortably with their eyes, rather than turning their heads. "I'd like you all to meet the leader of the school idol group Aqours, Ms. Chika Takami." Her voice was neither enthusiastic nor bored, more of a mix of professionalism and remaining quiet.

A redhead with a similar energy to Honoka stands up and faces the group. "It's a pleasure to meet you all." After pausing for a response she didn't receive, Chika continues. "I seldom come up to the city to meet new partnerships, but I do believe that we might have a special connection, yes?" µ's exchange glances, giving each other discreet shrugging motions to indicate they had no idea who she was or why she was here. "Both of our schools are closing down because of UTX, yes?" Some of the girls responded with a quiet yes, others with just a meek nod.

"Look, we're not here to recruit anybody. You guys have your own thing, we have ours. We're just suggestin' if our groups combine forces, we having the guns, and you guys having the eyes on UTX, we might be able to do something," You, who was sitting down, cuts in. Chika sits down after realizing You had the group's attention by now. Everyone remained silent. "Alright, here's the deal. We'll do a poll. Who here doesn't want anything to do with the whole mafia thing in the first place?" You raises her hand to signal a vote.

The only ones who didn't raise their hand were Kotori, Honoka, Nozomi and Eli. Some, like Maki and Rin, raised their hands reluctantly as not to offend the ones who voted against. On the other hand, Umi and Nico raised their hands confidently. "I don't want anything to do with this mess. Or criminals," Umi restates.

"Yeah, alright, we get it Umi," Eli replies, speaking for everyone else tired of hearing Umi's complaints. "We said we'd meet up one final time. If you don't wanna join, then you can leave-" Umi hastily grabs her things and storms off without looking back. Eli mumbles something to herself while she used a hand to rub her temples. "That goes to all of you," the blonde says with her eyes closed. "If you don't want anything to do with this, fine. You can leave. We won't force you." A pause ensued before Nico stood up, curtly apologizing to Honoka before leaving. Soon after, Maki, Rin and Hanayo left as well without saying anything. Everyone had their own reasons, but they didn't feel the need to explain themselves. Now, only the two Aqours members and those who didn't vote on leaving remained.

Another silence beset the group of six. Chika clears her throat to fill it in. "W-Well, now that we...got that out of the way..."

"We can get down to business." You takes out a briefcase and turns it around on the table so the front side faced the four. Unlatching it, she opens it to reveal eight bags inside. Four were inside the case, and another four were strapped onto the inside of the lid. The bags were tightly packed, leaving little room for air at the top, and were filled with what looked like a white powder. Her face got serious, making sure that the case was pointed away from where people could see. "Cocaine. You've heard of it, now you've seen it. Eight 3.8 liter containers in one briefcase. We've got an order close by for four briefcases worth of it delivered. Here's what we'll do."

You leans in to signal the other four to do the same. Chika stays leaned back, already knowing what You is going to say. "We'll bring four cases over to this alley. You show 'em the cases to confirm that they're there, they give you a case of cash. Easy work. Get back in the car, deposit the cash at your safe house, drive home, have dinner, go to bed. You're not...I guess full-blown drug dealers. Only intermediaries..." By now, You's short fragments of speech were being tuned out by them all. It didn't matter what You told them, they _are_ dealing drugs. Their entire life had only one message, and that was to not associate with drugs. It almost felt insulting to be hit with such a task from the start of their apparent mafia career. "Guys?"

They simultaneously look up at You. "Yeah?" You sighs in pity.

"Come on, were you even listening?"

"O-Of course we were," Honoka steps in. "W-We bring the...briefcases to the...to an alley, then, we get...we get the cases of cash and..." Her voice slowly diminished to a silence as she received a hot glare from You.

"This isn't a game. Don't treat it like one. We're not playing with fireworks, we're playing with bombs." They nod obediently.

"It's just that...we've never..." Nozomi tried to say something but only received the same reaction from You.

"I get it, you guys are new, this is your first op, you're nervous, blah blah blah. I get that. But you have to get over that fear quick," You explains in a hushed tone, snapping her fingers at her last word. "You can't get hung up on this. I know, Aqours got stuck in it too. Crying over spilled blood, drugs, death, you name it. It's just a part of the whole business." You looks at Honoka, Eli, Nozomi and Kotori individually. "Got it?" The four nod again.

"So, you guys up for this or what?" Chika says with her eyes closed with an almost impatient look on her face. Honoka, being the natural leader, spoke up,

"Y-Yes. We are." Chika opens an eye in incredulity. Now Chika was leaning in forward at the group.

"We get plenty of schools comin' to us every week asking to join our little gang to take down UTX. From what I can tell you're all new to the game. I understand that, but you have to see that this isn't going to be easy. Consider this field training. A tutorial. Everything's thrown at you here at the first run. You'll get the danger of dealing with the black market. But in my opinion, this job's a walk in the park. We got everything set up for you; a safe house, even guns for all nine if they all stayed. All we need is your approval," Chika finishes with her hand outstretched. Eli thought back a few nights ago when she was beaten by the delinquents, when the girl put her hand out for a handshake. This time, Chika's eyes were honest and open, and at the same time still looked cold and down-to-business.

Honoka's hand slowly reached toward Chika's, hesitating for only a second, before taking her hand and shaking it eagerly. Honoka didn't give herself time to think. She was under too much pressure, not that it mattered anyways. The handshake was done, and the plans were set. "Great. Follow us and we'll take you to your safe house."

* * *

You leads the way down familiar streets to a small, dilapidated brick building most likely used before as an office for attorneys or some other white collar job. The safe house itself only consisted of two rooms, with a backroom taking up a third of the building. The backroom was only separated from the rest of the building by cheap drywall and a door. Their footsteps echoed as they entered through the glass entrance, emphasizing the place's emptiness. The walls and floor were just bare cement, and they had a generally thin film of dust.

A large window in which people could look in from the outside was completely blocked off with heavy drapes. The safe house from the outside was totally inconspicuous, granted the girls kept it that way. "This place is at an interesting area," You commented, pacing forward into the room and glancing at the cobwebs collecting in the corners. "The backroom exit is only an alley and a block away from a train station, and the entrance we just came through is in an empty part of town. Very empty. This is where most of the action happens, really, it's so barren." Honoka thinks back to how the crowd on the sidewalk dissipated into a steady stream of people, only to almost completely vanish by the time they arrived at this spot.

"Exits are at the windows over there," Chika points at a dusty window pane facing the narrow alleyway and the brick wall of the building adjacent to them. "A fire exit in the backroom, and obviously here." She looks at You, motioning for the latter to get something from the back. "To the right of us is a pretty convenient alleyway to park most cars. Bit of a tight fit so, careful with the doors." Chika turns around on her toes and faces the four girls, who looked unimpressed given why they're here.

"What do you think? Not too nosy of a neighborhood down here. Might get lively from time to time during rush hour. Other than that, not too shabby." You comes out from the other room holding a suitcase similar to the one she showed earlier. Honoka's eyes went wide. "And, as a complimentary service, we got you..." Chika undoes the latches and turns the case around to show its contents. Inside were four pistols of the same variation, scattered about as if they were just thrown together. "Four five-sevens, fresh from Seiran High School."

You takes out an assault rifle. Out of instinct, Nozomi, Honoka and Kotori took a few paces backwards. In all of their lives, they had only seen firearms in television and movies, but here they were, right in front of their eyes. The rifle was rugged, with visible scratches etching its sides. "Type 56. Chinese AK-47 variant. Not even sure how Seiran gets their hands on this but, it's clearly seen some action." Eli, contrary to her friends, had taken a step forward. Since You handed her the weapon, she caressed it like a pet, stroking its features and imperfections affectionately. She had some experience with guns at a firing range, but something authentic like this wasn't something she saw everyday. "Perfectly functional. That's got about a four kilogram trigger weight so, keep that in mind..."

You reenters and exits the backroom with a sports bag. It felt cinematic with her heaving it onto a table and zipping it open to reveal more guns inside. "Here's some spare Berettas we found..." You laid out the weapons without showing much concern. It baffled the girls how cold she was about handling firearms nonchalantly like that. They wondered if they would end up being as cold as her. "...and, obviously, some boxes of ammo." When they were all on the table, they added up to nine. "Four five-sevens, four Beretta 92s and an AK"

Chika and You stood with their arms akimbo, admiring the layout as if it were a piece of artwork. "So, that's our present to you. Don't worry about repaying us. You got a big job soon," Chika says to the girls, her eyes trained on the leftovers of their haul. CYaRon had just got Aqours more loot from Seiran the other day and left a bit of it for μ's, but Chika doubted μ's would notice. The four µ's members, even Eli, were taken aback. It was all so foreign to them, so unfamiliar. "We'll stick around a bit to teach you how to use these. Would it be fair to say you're all new?" Eli rose her hand. "Some experience?"

"At a range, yes," the Russian replies, looking back down at the Type 56. "But...obviously not for..."

"Killing people." The two words hit the girls with shock, as if You purposefully hit a nerve. "Not self-defense. Sure, that'll happen, but, chances are, you'll be on the offense." Any thought of the girls giving guns a try immediately drained away. "Oh come on, don't get turned off now. We haven't even started!"

* * *

The four girls arrived at the same time of the afternoon the next day in winter clothing, despite being spring. They used the extra layers as a disguise, but even then they knew that it was a little overboard. They were not excited to be here. "Good afternoon," You greets them. Nozomi and Eli were the first to step in, with their underclassmen shuffling nervously after. "Chika's out today with some business of her own. Probably getting a car for us all to use. Now, let's skip the chit-chat. I'm only here to teach you all how to use a gun." The girls shivered internally, looking at each other for comfort.

You almost sounded unsympathetic when she told the girls to "stop being scared". "Let's go over the basic safety rules. Repeat after me. Ground rule number one, a gun is always loaded."

"A gun is always loaded," the girls reply with little synchronization. Slightly displeased, You continued.

"Ground rule number two, never point a gun to anything you're not willing to destroy." A pause ensued. "It'll make sense later."

"Never...point a gun...to anything you're not willing to destroy." The reply was shaky, with each girl trying to remember the remaining few words.

"Good. Ground rule number three, never put your finger on the trigger until your target's in your sights." By now, they were all echoing what she said as if they were in their idol days, lined up in front of a single leader feeding them lines that they had to respond with.

"Never put your finger on the trigger until your target's in your sights."

"And finally, ground rule number four, know your target and what's behind them."

"Know your target and what's behind them." You puts her hands together.

"Great! Now, each of you take your pick." The guns were laid out in an organized fashion, taking up the whole table while also being neatly categorized. Eli took the AK without hesitation, but the other girls settled for the five-sevens, judging by the pistols' sizes. "Now I could go on about how a gun works or the different types of guns and bullets and all that, but, we have to make this quick. Chika's planning on getting you guys on the road in three days."

"Three days?" Kotori timidly whispers, her already quiet voice becoming virtually inaudible as she stared at the gun she held in her hands. It was similar to that of the gun that Kira had pointed to her head. Thinking back on it, Kotori didn't feel any fear at first. It was the initial shock that hit her, bringing her to a blind, hypnotized state of obedience. By now, she was well aware that she had always been a very submissive type. Whether it was because she was trying to please others, or if she was just incapable of leading herself, she didn't know.

"Three days. Hey, what the boss says goes. Anyways..." You proceeded to pluck a Beretta off the table, cocked and pointed at a paper target in the distance. "We shouldn't be here long today either, so I'll teach you three things: How to aim, how to shoot and how to reload. That's all you'll need to know for something as simple as this." You closes an eye and sticks a tongue, firing three rounds into the poster, undoubtedly making holes on the other side. Each muzzle flash caused her spectators to blink, but afterwards, they all heard silence.

The girls looked at each other, expecting loud gunshots to ring every time You fired, but heard nothing. All four of them turn to You in unison. Her mouth was moving, but no words were coming out. Her expression turned from worry to relief. Honoka's hand instinctively went to one of her ears. Tinnitus was more evident each second it continued, and hands went up to ears soon after.

You sighs, glancing at a pack of earplugs she put directly on the table. "Should probably put those on..."

* * *

 **Yay, now the fan art of μ's holding guns now makes sense!**

 **(Also thanks to OuMiyuki for pointing out a mistake in Chapter 8 it's fixed now kthxbye)**

 **Thanks anyways,  
** **-DWalkthroughGuy**


	11. Crash Course

After school was over, Honoka bundled up in one of the bathrooms before putting on her outdoor shoes and heading to her new home away from her home. Her route today felt different. The road was all the same, the people were the same, everything was the same since she started taking this route to get to the safe house. It all felt strange to her today. The judging stares from people who Honoka believed to have recognized her haven't changed, yet, she felt nothing from them. Honoka herself was still hot from being dressed too much, but it didn't seem to affect her now. Her mind was only set in making it to the safe house. Maybe it was because she was carrying the gun Nozomi had given her. Either way, her heart was beating out of her chest, and she couldn't explain why.

Before she knew it, Honoka looked up and went into the safe house, where the other girls were already there. "Ah, there you are. We were about to pick you up from school it was taking you so long," Nozomi says, learning to ignore the formalities and greetings they would ordinarily waste their time on.

"We better gear up and head out quick. Sun's setting," You says, putting on a black bandanna. She puts on a backwards hat and picks up a Beretta off the table soon afterwards, putting in a clip in such a natural fashion, Honoka would've believed You was a common street thug. "Come on. You all want these? These look sick." She holds out a bundle of other bandannas, and the other girls shook their heads.

"You all have to let go of your past lives," Chika says, coming out from the other room, holding the four suitcases. "You don't really need these. Every idol knows each other, and if the public ever sees you, there's some other rules that cover your back."

"Why..." Kotori begins slowly.

"...does she wear them anyways? For fun, of course." Chika fills in the rest of her question, a smirk creeping onto her face when she sees You closing an eye and aiming down the pistol's sights. A street thug in a schoolgirl uniform wasn't the most serious look You could have gone for. "You'll learn how important it is. When I mean to let go of your past lives, I'm not saying to completely change. I'm saying to change enough so that this makes it more natural. It's like joining a club."

The girls couldn't even imagine comparing the black market to joining a regular school club. "Maybe subtract the innocence out of it," You takes the four suitcases and nods to Chika to head outside. "It's not all that bad. You'll see. Definitely not now, but you'll see." The four girls had stood where they were, buried in their winter clothes and scarves. You was about to go out the door when she looked back at them. "Stop feeling sorry for yourselves. Get ready before they call it off."

* * *

Once all of the suitcases were packed in the trunk, they all went over the plan one more time. They were all standing outside the car, observing the transition from the late afternoon to the evening. Everything in the sky turned a pale yellow, and shadows grew darker and longer. 'I wonder if Mom and Yukiho are wondering where I am' Honoka thinks to herself. Everyone was so quiet, but for different reasons. You and Chika remained silent because they had nothing to say. Contrarily, Eli, Nozomi, Honoka and Kotori were silent because they were all fearful for their reputations, and fearful for their lives. Chika begins,

"Alright, me and Kotori stay here. We don't need everyone. Nozomi takes the wheel, Honoka rides shotgun. Eli and You? Go in the backseat. Now when you get there, just park normally. Eli and You will get out, take two cases each, and have Honoka follow them out to the alley. Confirm it's them, open the briefcase to show them that the goods're there, and make the exchange. They should give you a case of money. Get back in the car and take the case back to the safe house."

The girls were all huddled around the table. "Got it?" Chika finishes. The µ's girls look at each other and nod. Their second opinions were burning, wanting to drop the whole thing and forget about it. It was too overwhelming for everyone, even for Kotori, who wasn't a part of it. "Alright. Good luck out there." You leads the way out the door, where the car was parked directly outside. Without a word, they stiffly get inside the car, their guns awkwardly held.

"I'll show you the way," You eyes Nozomi closely. There was no doubt the latter knew how to drive, but there was uncertainty in her eyes. You sighed, this time testily, worried that her fear would hinder her ability to act quickly as she drove. "Look. All of you. Look at me." You was growing impatient. Her same apparent unsympathetic behavior showed, especially now. "Are you all sure you want to do this?" Even though they all had their own thoughts, they all looked at Honoka for an anwser.

The redhead looked around and stopped. She had reiterated to herself all of the consequences that could come about, but she shook it off before. She looked down at the gun that was still in her hand. 'My prints are all over it now' she thought to herself. 'Am I ready to go on?' Her eyes wander back up. Honoka had already chosen this road, and the branching path was far behind her now. "Yes. I am." Her voice was dead serious. The others nod.

"Then so are we. Let's roll," Nozomi says, starting the car and awaiting You's directions.

* * *

"Turn left here. This is the street," You leans back into her seat from her standing position, where she was pointing out the directions during the duration of the drive. "Remember, Eli and I take the cases and Honoka follows behind. Nozomi, don't turn off the car. Keep it running." They all ready themselves, their breathing and heart rate only increasing with every dilapidated building they pass. The empty roads weren't appealing even to the street gangs. No sign of human presence remained, and probably had been the case for months now. Occasionally, the road got bumpy as a result of the lack of maintenance, not that anyone was using them anyways.

Nozomi began slowing down the sedan in preparation of aligning with the alleyway. You and Eli had one hand on the door handle, and the other on their guns. 'Behind this door is my entry to the world of crime' Eli thought, suppressing feelings of regret, memories of her parents and memories of her sister. 'I should tell-'

A horridly loud screech came from the alleyway they were to stop in front, and out came a white pickup truck with an armored grill. Nozomi, in a panic, hit the brakes, but it was too late. The truck slams the car right in its hood. As the sedan was sent spinning, the truck kept driving forward, stopping itself on the right lane of the road, waiting for their target to come to a stop as well. After a few seconds, the sedan was on the right lane too, only a few meters ahead from the truck. The windshield and Honoka's window had shattered, and smoke emanated from the hood of the car. The left headlight was without a doubt crushed, and the metal surrounding it had crumpled and was misshapen severely.

The same ringing, just like hearing a gun fire without any hearing protection, rang in all of their ears. Nozomi was knocked out from the initial impact, but everyone else was still in a daze. Voices could be heard through the ringing that continued. Even then, their joints were sore and somewhat painful from being jolted so hard.

"...the trunk first..."

'It was the words of a schoolgirl' Honoka, Eli and You noted, still stunned to move. Their next thought was,

'They're stealing the drugs!'

Honoka was the first to gather herself. With only vague surroundings to guide her, Honoka coughs from the dust of the crash, tries her best to wipe away the shards of glass on her lap and looks around. While the ringing was still in her ear, she could somewhat hear and feel the movements of people rummaging around in the trunk.

"I don't think I knocked all of them out. Should I go-"

"Don't shoot them. They want them alive." Honoka reaches down to the glove-box, taking out her pistol. Bruised and cut, she uses her free hand to open the door, and, by using her weight, forces the door open. A sharp pain shoots up from her foot; something must have hit it during the crash. Struggling to maintain her balance, but nonetheless standing, she faces forward in an almost menacing stance. Even with her blurry vision, Honoka distinguished three separate individuals in what looked like the same uniform. Their voices matched their supposed age.

"Sh-She's got a gun. Let's go, they only got four cases anyway!"

Adrenaline rushed in Honoka's veins. Everything except the ringing sounded distant, as if it was on the other side of a tunnel. Her head was spinning, but the little slice of consciousness that remained in her told her that she was in danger. The gun she gripped at her side had along with it her two days of training and a lifetime of choices leading up to this moment. Too many things were happening to Honoka—pain in different points throughout her body, the current status of her comrades, the three schoolgirls she was facing now. "Boss, they said not to kill nobody! Just ignore her!" The girl in the middle with black hair had moved her hand to her side. She hesitated, as if to stop and think, and moved her hand away.

"Fine. Get in the car and go!"

"Are you sure they're alive?" the driver, whose head wasn't very visible and didn't look to be the right height to be driving, called out from her seat.

"Yeah, one of 'em got out of the car!" Honoka lazily moved the gun as if her two arms were moving on their own. She maintained her stance, and it seemed like the target stood still.

 _1\. A gun is always loaded._

Honoka looked at the gun as it rose in her hands, and turned off the safety with her right thumb

 _2\. Never point a gun at anything you're not willing to destroy._

Honoka heard some scuffling in the truck, most likely the perpetrators trying to rearrange everything inside. The two girls that Honoka had seen before had thrown all of the cases into the truck, and only one remained. Was she expecting more drugs? "Boss! Come on! Boss!"

 _3\. Never put your finger on the trigger until your target's in your sights._

Time slowed down as Honoka moved herself on autopilot. With her arms outstretched and her body squared forward, she took a deep breath. She rested the first crease of her index finger on the trigger, both hands shaking and shuddering.

 _4\. Know your target and what's behind them._

Her finger slowly started to put some pressure on the trigger. The inner workings of the gun stressed and creaked as the firing pin neared release. For just a moment, Honoka's vision was crystal clear. She stared her target right in the eyes. She had looked up from what she was doing and spotted Honoka aiming right at her. Her eyes were a dark shade of caramel, and in those eyes, was the purest concentration of fear Honoka had ever seen.

Something inside the gun clicked, and the whole thing recoiled. The force was too much for Honoka's grip and the gun jumped out of her hands. The loud bang made a tiny dent in the already blaring buzzing already present. Honoka wasn't sure what happened until the ringing started to die down a little. The two girls in the truck had gotten out of it again, rushing towards their apparent boss. Whispering curse words to herself, she gripped a certain spot on her side with both of her hands. "I-I've been shot! That bitch shot me! I'm hit! I'm hit!" The girl looked to be more scared and panicked than in pain. Her friends had now crowded her, one of them tending to the wounded area with gauze, and another taking out a gun of her own and aiming it at Honoka.

"You better stay the hell away!" the schoolgirl with the gun says, keeping it trained at Honoka's eyes. They were slowly guiding their boss back to the truck. "I told you that there were only four cases!" she whispers to the boss, observing the red moisture that the other girl was desperately trying to contain, but only made it worse. Honoka dropped to the ground on her bottom, too dazed and nauseous to remain standing. "Told not to kill them and this is what happens..."

"Boss, boss! Stay with us, boss!" The boss's eyes began to fade. She fought against the increasing weight of her eyelids, fighting to stay conscious, fighting to stay alive.

"Not...like...this..."

The driver started to get out of her seat, but noticed a gun pointed at her direction. Honoka had her gun out once more. You and Eli were now coming to, and immediately saw what was happening.

"H-Honoka?" You stumbled out of the car with her Beretta, red dripping down her leg. She was using her other hand to hold a part of her leg that was hit by some glass. Breathing through her teeth to stuff out the pain, she pointed the gun at the vague direction of the truck. "D-Dammit...we're not losing...our...goods..."

"They're waking up. Get her in the car and go!" They started moving their boss's bleeding body into the back seat. You opens fire at the driver, but the windshield was bullet resistant, giving it only notable cracks. The driver blinks every time another one is made. Honoka aimed it at the driver too and pulled the trigger, but the gun refused to fire. Something was stuck inside. With a loud screech, the car reversed wildly as the short driver started moving before all of the doors closed, which did after the truck stopped again. "Get the hell outta here!"

You empties the rest of her clip at the tires, but with only one hand to aim with, none of her bullets connect. Some tire smoke came from the truck as it sped away, leaving only skid marks behind.

* * *

 **Well, so much for a "tutorial".**

 **Thanks to all of you who've reviewed! Your thoughts are much appreciated.**

 **Thanks anyways,  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	12. Apartheid

The girls got out of the car and had to drag Nozomi out with them. They all sat on the sidewalk in pain. Bleeding started to stop, and aching joints were being tended to. Honoka tucked her knees in. Her eyes were peeking above them, staring at her .380 she deliberately left on the ground. They all remained in their spots, silent, waiting for the adrenaline to die down.

"...should call HQ..." You pulls out her phone, damaged, but not destroyed, and stared to dial Chika. You sandwiches her phone between her shoulder and her ear as she ties a tourniquet around her upper thigh. Eli watched as You did this calmly. Here she was, treating herself from potentially lethal exsanguination, and she tied it off as if it was everyday business. The other line picked up, and You held the phone with a free hand as the other tightened the tourniquet. The make-shift bandage seemed to have worked, despite her grunts of pain. "Hey."

Eli moved her head stiffly back to Honoka, who continued to stare forward at the pistol that laid on the floor. Eli stared at her own Kalashnikov, wondering what had gotten into her. She couldn't help but wonder how she might've been able to scare them off without having to cause such trauma. Her mind was burning with guilt for remaining still. Her mind wandered back to the night that she arrived in Tokyo, when she was faced with the three delinquents. There, she had no problem remaining calm as she tried her best to fight them off, but earlier, she was frozen stiff, not taking action despite being able to. Eli knew why she stopped. The scenario she played in her mind where she exits the car and gunned each one of them down was nothing but a lie, and Eli knew it. She was scared, scared for herself, as one naturally would be.

"Yeah, uh, it was a setup..." You lay down on the cement, turning her head to see the final rays of sunlight fade from visibility. "I...I didn't know! Ruby said it was...yes, I am blaming...okay, sure..." The conversation didn't sound overly heated, as Eli thought it should have been. Their lives were in danger, and valuable cargo was just stolen from them. Why did they converse so normally? "Alright. See you there." You hung up and stood, leaning on one leg as not to put too much undue stress on her bandaged leg. She looks at her team up and down, observing their faces. "Come on guys, let's get back to the safe house."

"I wanna go home..." Eli mutters, not sounding like herself, and more so like a child. "I just wanna go home..." You sighs.

"We'll...talk more about this when we get back to base," she says, heaving Nozomi over her shoulder and placing her on the passenger's seat. Most of the glass had been cleaned out of the car, courtesy of You, and, while the car smoked, it was still functional, much to their surprise. After everyone else painfully put themselves back in the car, they take a moment to rest, realizing how much of a chore it was just to move. You starts the car and makes the awkward drive back to their headquarters.

* * *

With the car parked, You leans her head back on the headrest behind her. She closes her eyes, contemplating on how she was going to explain herself. The sound of a slamming door forced You to sit up, briefly hurting her back for moving too quickly.

Kotori had tears running down her face, running down the steps and tugging on the back car door. She jerks it open and hugs her friends tightly. Eli and Honoka don't respond, their faces listless and blank. "You guys..." Kotori looks at Nozomi, and her joy drops immediately.

"She's fine. She got knocked out during the crash, but she's alive," You notices Kotori's face on the rear mirror. The former still didn't want to exit the vehicle due to her leg. Chika steps outside, as nonchalant as ever.

"So, a setup huh?" the redhead looks into the driver's window of the car like a jaded cop. You kept her head leaned against the headrest, clearly exhausted and in pain.

"Yeah. Big white truck. Looked like Shion to me, but, they didn't have their uniforms on," You says with her eyes closed again, trying to relax herself.

"Shion? Why would they want our drugs? Did they know we were mixed in?" Chika asks, referring to Aqours. You shook her head and waved her hand, as if to say to ignore it.

"I don't know. Maybe they did. Maybe they were just hungry," You opens her eyes and moves her head to look at Kotori without losing contact of the headrest. "But they're definitely shaken for sure." Chika exhales a long, tired sigh.

"Definitely..." she groans, making her way to the other side of the car to take out Nozomi. The purple haired girl looked like she was sleeping. She would've looked peaceful if not for the dried blood, tears in her clothes and glass shards. Chika roughly dusts her off and takes her inside. You looks back to Kotori, trying to get the two in the backseat to come out.

"Leave 'em there for now, Kotori. They'll come out when they want," You calls back, forcing herself up as well.

"What about the deal?" Kotori says unexpectedly, referring to the mission.

"It was a setup. There was never a deal to begin with." This was certainly going to be a long week.

* * *

By the time Monday arrived, Honoka had learned to suppress her thoughts. She figured it was unhealthy, but there was really no better alternative for her since they had to return to their regular lives so shortly after. Even with her best attempts, she found it too overwhelming to simply bury. What had she done? The .380 was left at the safe house thanks to You picking it up for her when Honoka refused to. Honoka didn't care about the gun, however, she cared the memories behind it. She had shot someone. What happened to them? Honoka couldn't stop thinking about "Boss", and kept putting herself in Boss's shoes. What would happen if she were shot? What would happen to everyone else?

That evening was ingrained into her mind. Vivid memories of the pain and the surging adrenaline moving her hands forward sometimes forced her eyes to glaze over and think of nothing else. She didn't want to remember, but she always does. Trying to pay attention in class, trying to do her schoolwork, trying to listen to other people as they talked—she couldn't do it.

Honoka was walking down the hall at the beginning of classes; her body had been on autopilot as her mind kept replaying the crash over and over again. It was stuck on loop, and Honoka wasn't sure how to stop it. She runs into someone before Honoka noticed they were there, and they both stop. "O-Ow, sorry..." Honoka mutters instinctively, gripping her own wrist lightly. Honoka believes the recoil of the gun might have caused her hand to jerk too far back, leaving behind a sprain. Perhaps she was so numb with adrenaline and shock that she couldn't feel it at first. Honoka had run into Maki, who noticed the grimace on Honoka's face.

"Honoka, are...are you alright?" Honoka nods, still holding her wrist gingerly.

"I'm fine."

"What happened?" Maki asks, her piercing eyes telling Honoka that there was no getting away. Honoka starts to walk away, but Maki was quick to put a hand on her shoulder. Honoka sighs.

'She doesn't understand, doesn't she?'

"We did an operation. That's all. It's nothing serious-"

"Tell me exactly what happened." Maki was insistent, her hand's grip tightening as Honoka tried to keep walking "How about the others?" Honoka stopped trying to act nice. She had had enough.

"We got in a car crash that night. That's it. Everything else is fine." Honoka shakes off Maki's hand and starts to walk again, but Maki only follows her.

"W-Wait, are they hurt? Tell them to meet back in the safe house-"

"Why should I do anything for you?" The sentence took Maki aback. "Whatever. Go back to being a rich girl and live your life. Unlike me you have a future ahead of you."

"Honoka, what are you say-"

"Are you deaf? I said go back to being-"

"I am not..." Honoka turns her body around and takes an aggressive step towards Maki.

"You said you weren't joining me, so don't. You weren't there when it happened, so stop acting like you can fix it." Honoka turns back around and kept walking where she was originally headed. The other girls in the hallway stood in shock, keeping their eyes on Honoka's fierce steps and getting out of her way when she approached.

They just didn't get it.

* * *

After the final bell rang, Honoka got up hastily, as if she were rushing to get out of school. Maki hadn't given up, however, and started to trail her on their way out. "H-Hey, wait, Honoka." Honoka doesn't even bother to stop or turn around as Maki chased after her. "Did you tell the othe-" Honoka stops walking, closing her eyes in frustration.

"Stop following me." Honoka started again, but Maki remained.

"I have to see if everyone else-"

"I said they're fine. Go away." Maki couldn't believe that Honoka was going to act like this. Was it just for not joining her? How bad could the incident have been? Honoka decides to give up and lets Maki follow her over to the safe house. They arrive there as the sun neared its descent into the horizon. Maki was unfamiliar with this part of town, but she was fine knowing that Honoka was there with her. Honoka enters the door with Maki in tail. You, Chika and the others that joined Honoka were all sitting around the rugged, homemade table discussing something. With their conversation cut short by the opening of the door, they all look up to see who Honoka brought in. "Maki?"

"Hey guys..." Maki looked around the empty room as she closed the door behind her. It surprised her how barren it was. 'It's only their first week...' She thinks to herself.

"What're you doing here?" Unlike Honoka, Eli spoke in a tone that was more surprised than condescending. Maki recognizes the two girls from Aqours from the cafe and nods to them as a short greeting.

"I was worried for you guys. I heard of what happened," Maki replies. Nozomi and Eli look at each other, then at Honoka. The two university students looked concerned.

"Why? Who told you?" Nozomi questions, hoping that Honoka didn't give away too much in school.

"I asked Honoka what happened to her wrist, and, she just said that something happened," Maki replies defensively. Maki takes out a small first aid kit, always available in her bag. She couldn't tell if it was because she was working to be a medical student, or just because she wanted to. Opening it, she picks out a roll of short stretch bandages, scissors and some tape, almost as if she knew that there was some fixing she had to do. Nozomi sighs, glad Honoka didn't give away any more.

"Anyways, how're you all feeling?" Maki asks, looking at everyone. Nozomi lifts up her bangs to reveal a square bandage on her forehead, properly cleaned and taken care of. The rest of her body was covered in small bandages as well, mostly from the glass, but she kept that to herself.

"I'm fine," You says flatly, not caring that she revealed band-aids all over her arm. Maki decided to leave her be.

"I'm alright," Eli says as she shows some bruises on her arm and a minor sprain on her ankle. Maki rushes over to examine Eli. The ankle was poorly bandaged; whoever it was that attempted to correct her ankle didn't do it any favors. "I tried doing it myself last night." Maki sighs but tries not to show it.

"Take your shoe off," she commands, and Eli does as told. Looking down, Eli asks,

"Why? What's wrong-"

"Sorry, Eli, this might hurt a little," Maki says, tenderly holding Eli's ankle as she undoes the bandages. Eli winces quietly in pain as Maki observes the swelling. "What did you do..." While it looked perfectly fine to everyone else, Maki saw that the wrap was done all wrong—there was too much slack, the bandages didn't even cover the whole foot and the ankle must've not been iced for as long as it should have. Maki readies her supplies, making it her duty to correct it.

As she was working on Eli's ankle, Chika looks down at Maki with a hand under her chin. "Are you, looking for someone?" Chika cuts in, eyeing Maki suspiciously. "Or have you found what you were looking for?" Chika's hand slowly reaches down to her holster. Noticing her intention and the look of suspicion in her eyes, Eli waves her hands to Chika.

"No, no, she isn't here to rat us out. I'm sure of it, right Maki?" Maki looks up and blinks, surveying the nervous glances from the room. Maki sees from under the table where Chika's hand was.

"N-No! I was here to...to check up on...my friends-"

"I thought you didn't want to associate with us," Honoka huffs, throwing her bookbag on the floor. "Chika, it's fine." Chika relaxes as Honoka waves her off. "We're fine, Maki. If we needed help, we would've gotten it." Maki tapes off the bandage and receives a quiet thank you from Eli before she responds.

"Look, I'm sorry I cared. I just wanted to see how everyone is, okay?" Maki starts to pack up her kit, now realizing how awkward she made it by interrupting their conference. "I'm sorry I can't be charitable every once in while." Having gathered her things, Maki turned around to face the door. She was about ready to open it when Nozomi's voice stops her. Nozomi had a taunting voice, talking as if she were scolding a child. The power behind it made Maki shiver.

"Uh-uh-uh. Where do you think you're going?" Maki turns around to face her. She was leaning back into her seat and had rested her feet on the table. It didn't feel like the real Nozomi, and Maki knew it.

"I'm leaving." Maki moves to the doorknob but was stopped again.

"I'm sorry Maki. I know we know each other but, it's just business," Eli said it. All the while Kotori remained silent and stared at her feet as not to make eye contact. "You know how to get here now, don't you? You know what goes on here." Eli was standing now, and was walking towards Maki.

'At least she doesn't seem to have changed...' Maki thinks, but that was the least of her worries right now. Eli was towering over her intimidatingly, almost threateningly. "W-Wait, you got it wrong-"

"What do I have wrong exactly? You know how to get back to the school, don't you?."

"H-How do you kn-"

"Else you would have asked for directions." For the first time, Maki felt fearful of her own familiar. She had always looked up to Eli as a leader, a strong-willed sentinel, but she had turned against her. "I think you need to make us a promise." Maki swallows, trying fruitlessly to hide her shaking.

"I-I promise...not...to tell...about what goes on here." Maki exhales in relief, but looks up to see Eli shaking her head.

"Not that kind of promise. Those are just words to us."

"Wh-What do you want, then?!" Maki was backing towards the door, but Eli had put her own hand on the doorknob.

"I want you to promise to be a part of us." Maki looks past Eli over to her friends. Honoka and Aqours remained indifferent as Nozomi speculated in amusement. Kotori sat as if she were invisible. The brunette's eyes glistened, tearful of the unfamiliar hostility between them. She knew it wasn't right, but what could she say?

Maki's breath was shaking as well. She stares back up at Eli. "If you say yes, you stay with us. We're even closer than friends—we're family. If you say no, you're free to leave that door and never speak to us again." A pause ensues before Maki nods her head slowly.

"Y-Yes."

"Very well." Eli lets go of the doorknob, and Maki leaves without hesitation.

On her way home, Maki thought about what had just happened. Was she just extorted by Eli to join a life of crime? Maki didn't believe it. Why did she nod like she did? "I'm so stupid..." Maki frets over what she'll most likely have to do. What'll happen to her future? Her family? Her only friends? Maki was home before she knew it, and was about to input the code to unlock the gate when she noticed that the usual silence of the night was disturbed. Maki stopped. The smell of smoke reached her as she notices something orange faintly glowing in the distance.

"What is that?"

* * *

 **SUSPENSE!**

 **Thanks anyways,  
** **-DWalkthroughGuy**


	13. Meltdown

Honoka's eyes snap open.

It was the dead of night, and seemed like everyone was asleep. 'Why did I wake up?' she rolls over to another side of her bed, closing her eyes. As her mind slowly started to drift from consciousness, a vibration shook her awake. Her eyes snap open again. This time, she sits up, rubbing her eyes as she tries to use what little moonlight there was in the room to find its source. All she could think of is how she wanted to return to sleep once more. 'Yukiho...' Honoka grumbles mentally. However, no light fills the hallway from under her door. Something vibrates the floor, like a footstep. A slow creak resounds, an unmistakable footstep. Honoka's chest tightens as her heart starts to pump faster. She remains as still as she could, trying to pick up sound. 'Is someone in here?'

Honoka reaches into the crevice between her bed and the neighboring wall for the red box she kept her .380 in. Her hand touches nothing but the floor. 'I left it at the safehouse...' Honoka hears more definitive staccatos—footsteps. Her sliding door yanks open, slamming into the wall. The sudden smash makes her jump. She pulls her hand out of her bed and looks at the silhouette standing at her doorway. The light wasn't enough to paint a clear image to see who it was, but Honoka could tell someone was there. "Mom?! Dad?! Yukiho?!" Honoka calls out, standing on her bed now. No one responds. "Where are they?!"

The shadow steps closer to Honoka, and her eyes widen. It had something in its hand it kept by its side. A gun. "W-Wait..." The shadow shakes their head, their side bow swishing. "Wait!" The gun they kept at their side was pointed at Honoka. "No!" Honoka dives out of her bed and runs out of her bedroom, not even bothering to look back or close the door. For some reason, her foot didn't hurt as she runs into walls and flies down the stairs. 'Must be the adrenaline' she thinks. She smiles, having reached the front door. However, upon opening it, a black car was parked directly across it, completely blocking the exit. "What?! How?!"

It didn't matter now. The mysterious figure was coming down the stairs. Honoka's only hope was to go out through the bathroom window, which was behind the store counter and through the kitchen. Her mind was filled with an almost familiar fear for her life. She didn't dare stare the shadow in the face as she makes a mad dash past the double doors into the kitchen. The figure was faster than Honoka initially thought, and the predator and prey meet face to face. "MOM?! DAD?!" Honoka screams, sprinting at full speed before opening and closing the bathroom door behind her. Tears started streaming down her face. Was this the end?

"Where the hell are they?!" She pats herself down but finds no phone or weapon she could use. The bathroom was small, tall and square-like, with the window above the sink. The door didn't even lock. Honoka could only use half of the window to get out, just barely enough for her to squeeze herself through, but she knew it was possible. The bathroom door shakes with a loud knock. She forces the window open, which was partially rusted shut from its lack of use.

This time, Honoka was sure to be free. As she starts to launch her head towards the opening, something grabs her foot. "OH GOD!" she yells. Honoka furiously claws with her hands to grab onto the windowsill. The hand that gripped her foot was cold. It felt light and prickly like grass, only making Honoka's fear worse. She loses her balance on the sink and she tumbles to the ground, again, painlessly.

She was quite literally cornered by the mysterious figure, their gun pointed directly at her forehead. Even though they stood directly in front of the window where moonlight streamed in, they remained black, like a real shadow. "Please, PLEASE!" Honoka was shrieking now, the gun right up between her eyes. It reminded her of when Tsubasa did the same thing to Kotori. Honoka didn't know where it came from, but ringing started to grow in her head. It was small and negligible at first, but only grew more uncomfortably loud the more she screamed. Soon, she could barely hear herself. "I'M BEGGING YOU! FORGIVE ME! I DIDN'T MEAN TO! PLEASE-"

A gunshot rang through the sky...

...and Honoka sits up from her bed, screaming at the top of her lungs. Her body was drenched in sweat, and she was shaking and writhing about as she held both of her hands to her head. Her sliding door opens and her family rushes in. "Honoka? Honoka?! Honoka what's-"

"GOD DON'T. DON'T PLEASE, DON'T-"

"Don't what Honoka? Honoka?!" Her mother had said it, but her father pushes her aside, restraining Honoka down to the bed.

"I DON'T WANNA DIE! PLEASE, I DIDN'T-" Her mother watched with a hand covering her mouth, and Yukiho could only stare in disbelief and horror. They were both crying. "NO, NO, NO!"

"No...no..." Suddenly, Honoka's eyes filled with tears, and she bawls with piercing volume.

"Honoka! The neighbors will wake up-"

"Kousaka Honoka!" Her father, still lying down on the bed continued trying to keep Honoka from thrashing around. "Honoka, Honoka, look at me. Look at me, Honoka." Honoka refused to do it, her eyes avoiding human contact. Eventually, Honoka's shaking lessened. She hyperventilates and continues to cry. All the while her family had no idea what was going on. "What's wrong? What's wrong, Honoka?" They were more afraid of her than they were angry. Honoka stops herself, thankful that she was out of her nightmare. She couldn't tell them why she's been having them, neither could she ask for a solution. Honoka only kept crying, being eaten away by the uncertainty of her escape.

All of a sudden, Honoka stopped. Everything was silent as it was before. The Kousakas were surprised.

Out of almost nowhere, Honoka started to laugh. Softly and genuinely at first, enough to convince her parents that she had scared them on purpose, but steadily growing stronger, louder, crazier. Soon her laugh turned to maniacal roaring, and Yukiho's eyes look up. "M-Mom, what's happening to Honoka?"

"I don't know, Yukiho. I don't know." Honoka's father held his daughter tightly, wishing with all of his might that whatever demon infested her would go away. "I wish I did."

* * *

Neither Honoka or Maki came to school the following day. Rin and Hanayo stayed together, not knowing how to talk about anything. µ's had really been their only friends, apart from each other of course, and something was clearly happening involving the whole mafia business. UTX hadn't really gone after Rin or Hanayo either. Maybe they just wanted to stay out of it.

After lunch, Rin and Hanayo run into Umi in the halls. "H-Hey, Umi," Rin says nervously.

"Hey, Rin."

"D-Do you know...what's going on with Honoka?" Umi shakes her head, trying to act as if she had no idea what Rin was talking about.

"No, I don't. Why?"

"We-I...was just...wondering," Rin laughs sheepishly as Umi walks on past them. It looks like they'd have to find out what happened themselves.

After school, the two girls tried giving Honoka, Maki and Nozomi a call. They hadn't bothered to put everybody else's contacts down, but nothing came of it anyway. "They won't pick up," Hanayo closes her phone and looks at Rin, who was staring off at the sunset from atop the school with her hands on her hips. They had made it a habit to come back to the roof every once in a while. They weren't sure why they did, maybe it was because of the view. Perhaps their legs were taking them to idol practice and hadn't bothered breaking the habit. "Wh-What do we do, Rin?"

"I'm not sure. Let's go to Honoka's house, nya. We have sheets to give her anyways."

* * *

With all of the spare time they had, they took their time as they tried to find the route to Honoka's home from memory alone. It took them an extra fifteen minutes, but the rest of the path was easy after they located the shrine nearby. Rin opens the door hesitantly, looking inside the shop. "Welcome, girls!" It was Honoka's mother behind the counter. The two second-years felt weird having to intrude on Honoka's privacy, but they step inside nevertheless.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Kousaka," Rin bows awkwardly. "U-Uh, is Honoka here? We have her homework." Honoka's mother smiles.

"Sorry for the trouble-"

"Oh no, it's nothing," Rin cuts in, handing over the small stack of papers. "We w-wanted to check in on her too." Rin looks at Hanayo, who nods rapidly in agreement.

"Aw, you're both too kind. Honoka just went out with Nozomi and Eli just a while ago." Rin and Hanayo look at each other immediately. Nozomi and Eli must be taking her to the safe house. "They said they were going to get her help, so you might be able to catch them if-"

"Thank you very much!" Rin runs out the door. Hanayo lags behind, waves shyly at Honoka's mother, and follows after Rin.

Hanayo and Rin don't take long before they find the three of them walking side by side. Honoka was sandwiched between the two university students. 'I wonder how they get all this free time' Rin thinks, waiting on Hanayo to catch up to her. "Hey!" Recognizing Rin's voice, Nozomi and Eli turn around and wave back. "Where are you all going?"

"Heading to our safe house," Nozomi replies. Hanayo takes a glance at Honoka's face, which was lifeless and barren. "She needs help."

"What happened, nya?" Rin asks. Eli sighs.

"I'll explain it this time, Nozomi. There was an incident just a few days ago and now she's been shaken up. She's not hurt too badly, so it's nothing to worry about."

"She hasn't come to school for four days now," Hanayo adds. "We were just wondering if she was okay." Nozomi looks at Eli with her eyes, keeping her head trained forward. Eli looks forward as well, readjusting Honoka's arm that rested on Eli's shoulder.

"I'm glad that you guys care about us," Eli begins, rounding the corner and passing through a small patch of people. "But I don't think we can let you into our safe house unless you agree to do what we do."

"What?" Rin didn't understand.

"We agreed that we can't be lukewarm on this. You're either in the game, or you're on the stands. You can't be on the sidelines," Eli explains, crossing an empty street without checking both ways. They were nearing the barren section of the town again, and Honoka started to grunt quietly, recognizing the environment. Seeing this, Nozomi leans towards her and whispers something in her ear. Honoka hadn't spoken this entire time, and she quieted back down again. The girls actually much preferred her bitterness than this. "It'll cause too many problems if you're not 100% with us. So, it's a yes or no question: are you with us or not?" Eli kept walking, looking at the two second-years.

"Wh-What did Maki say?" Hanayo peeps. Eli stops, prompting Nozomi to do so as well. The street perpendicular to the upcoming intersection led them directly to their safe house. Not wanting to give it away, Eli turns around to face them.

"She said she wanted to join," Eli replies. It wasn't exactly the truth, but it wasn't technically wrong. The girls observed how adult Eli looked from this angle, much different from her seniority just a few months ago. Here, she looked like an entirely new person, having put on years instead of weeks. Perhaps it was the stress from being a part of the gang added with the scars of being beaten up. Either way, Eli did a good job of striking fear with just her stance and stare alone. "You don't have to choose now, but if you aren't, we'd like to leave you behind here. We can't take you any further."

"But-"

"Honoka will be fine. She'll be in our care. She's just..."

"...not herself right now," Nozomi finishes for her, observing Honoka carefully. The Russian sighs, relieved that Honoka was calm for now. "I assure you she'll be fine." Her eyes land on the two girls. Nozomi wasn't concerned for the girls' safety more than she was concerned of their sanity. Who knows if the same thing were to happen to people even younger than Honoka? Honoka's parents had already described her behavior, and Nozomi had identified multiple defense mechanisms in play. 'Regression, denial, reaction formation, acting out...' Nozomi mentally lists her own psychological diagnosis of Honoka's condition. The supposed leader of μ's was clearly deteriorating, and Nozomi was going to try her best to fix it. Honoka relied on it as well. Getting professional help meant confessing the truth, which isn't an option on the table.

Rin decided to let it go, and instead thought on if she wanted to join or not. "I...don't think I'm ready," she says. It had never occurred to her mind that she would have to make the choice. She said no in the beginning and hadn't planned on changing it. However, she looks at Honoka pitifully and wonders if her decision was one of caution or one of selfishness. Hanayo sides with Rin (and probably would have if she said yes).

"G-Good, and stay out...!" Nozomi muffles Honoka, who started speaking out of nowhere. "You...nghh..." Nozomi begins whispering to Honoka again, and the latter started to calm down. Rin and Hanayo couldn't stand to watch their friend like this.

"N-Never mind." Nozomi looks up from Honoka's ear. "I...I want to do something...for Honoka." Eli raises an eyebrow.

"Are you sure you want to do this for Honoka?"

"I-I mean-"

"This isn't a club," Eli says dryly, contrary to what You encouraged them to believe. "You can't just resign whenever you like."

"I know it's not-"

"So are you joining because you're helping Honoka out of charity, or because you want to take down UTX?" Rin was shocked at Eli's seriousness. Why was Eli being so confrontational?

"How bad could this be?" Hanayo says, trying to lighten the mood rather weakly. Eli shifts her cold gaze from Rin, Hanayo immediately and regrettably invoking Eli's wrath.

"How bad could this be? You wanna know the truth?" Nozomi closes her eyes, knowing what Eli was going to say and gave up on trying to stop her as she covers Honoka's ears and holds her closer. "We almost lost our lives that day. You know that? We could've _died._ Understand?" Despite Rin and Hanayo not giving a response, she continues. "Who knows what the future's like? If Honoka's so shaken up about shooting somebody, who knows what other obstacles are in store? I wouldn't have guessed in a million years that the trade would have ended like that. Never. But here we are, and this is the price we pay for taking a gamble. Are you sure you're wanting to join 'just to take down UTX'? As noble as that is, I frankly don't believe you under-"

"No, I get it." Rin's voice was almost as flat as Eli's, except much younger. "You don't want us to join." Rin's flat expression meet's Eli's rather defiantly.

"What are-"

"You're trying to protect us." Eli stopped dead in her tracks. Rin was spot on. "I am absolutely grateful for that, Eli."

"I am not at all trying to-"

"So you're fine if we die?" Rin counters, now the one being impatient. "Look, I know. I get it. You don't want the same thing happening to us." Rin looks back to Honoka, still being held and caressed by Nozomi's tender hug. "I totally under-"

"That's the problem. You _don't_ underst-"

"Can you just stop being so stiff and listen to me for once?" Rin elevates her voice, taking Eli by surprise. "Why do you have to hide behind this wall? Just be honest! Just admit why you don't want us to join. Why, is it because we're not as old as you? Are we too innocent? Honoka had the guts to do what she wanted to do even if it cost her an arm and a leg." Eli remained silent. "And even her mind."

"Can we...just..." Hanayo tries to bring the energy down, and the other girls look away from each other.

"Honoka brought me out of my shell," Rin says to no one in particular. "She gave me hope. She showed me that my insecurities were meaningless. That it wasn't everyone judging me, it was me judging myself." She looks down at the pavement, awkwardly kicking her heel. "I guess I just wanted to pay back the favor." A pause of silence ensued as the girls looked at Honoka, longingly awaiting a glimmer of consciousness, but found none. Rin's chartreuse eyes meet Eli's ice blue. "Is that too much to ask?" Eli looks away.

"Fine," she says, admitting that Rin was right without outright saying it. "But don't complain when-"

"Yeah, yeah. Hanayo, what about you?" Hanayo nods. "Great. I guess we're both on the team." Nozomi lets go of Honoka's head and smiles, continuing down the street to the safe house.

* * *

Nozomi settles down with Honoka around the table as the rest of the group shuffles in. Only Kotori was inside. "Where's You and Chika?" Eli asks.

"They said they had some other business to attend to," she responds almost inaudibly.

"Oh for Christ's...Didn't we just get back from-" Nozomi elbows Eli sharply in the side. Eli looks down and sees the purple-haired girl shake her head vigorously, motioning to Honoka. "Right." The blonde looks up to see Rin and Hanayo accepting the place rather cheerily. Unlike Maki and everyone else that encountered this room for the first time, their expected responses were exactly the opposite. Rin was fascinated by the gun wall, which was mostly pistols. Hanayo picked out one of them to examine closely.

"A-Are, are these real?" she squeaks.

"They indeed are," Nozomi replies, hurriedly trying to take out a magazine for Honoka to look at as the redhead's eyes begin to shiver. Hanayo looked on with even more interest.

"Whoa..."

"You girls better get used to handling those," Eli says, putting on a pair of earplugs.

"What...we're teaching them now?" Nozomi whispers, to which Eli nods.

"Course we are. Just give Honoka these." Eli takes out a heavy set of headphones, way more than what was needed to mask gunshots. Nozomi snuggles them onto Honoka's head. "Should cover them, right?" Nozomi chuckles back nervously. She had yet to see the flailing Honoka's family described. Apparently, the nightmares had done a number on their sleeping patterns. "Alright, I'm teaching you how these are used." Eli calls.

"Jumping right into it, huh?" Rin smiles energetically. "Let's do it, nya!"

* * *

An hour had passed before Eli and Nozomi left the safe house. After they had stopped by Honoka's house to drop her off, they walk back silently to Nozomi's place. Their walks had always been silent, at least recently. This was the time they gave themselves to be isolated, even though they were touching shoulders, and to just sit in their own thoughts. "What do you think's going on in Honoka's mind?" Eli finally says, kicking at a rock to distract herself.

"She's lost it," Nozomi exhales as she looks at the sky. "She's too stressed. Too scared. Too confused. All of this at the same time? No one could handle it."

"But what did she even do? She just shot them." Nozomi looks at Eli with a frown, disliking the latter's apathy.

"She could've killed her, that's what's eating her up." Eli puts her hands up, detecting the anger in Nozomi's voice.

"I'm just saying, we don't know yet."

"Hey." The girls froze. That was neither of their voices. Whirling around simultaneously, they see Kira Tsubasa approaching them up the sidewalk. How long had she been following the couple? "I have to admit, she did well for her first trigger."

"Kira? How did you know about any of this?" Eli was reaching to the back of her shirt, in which she had a loaded pistol. She abhorred the idea of carrying a concealed weapon wherever she went, but her mind had changed since the incident. It was for self-defense, she told herself, but was that really the case? Tsubasa smiles, her green eyes remaining dull in the increasing shadows of the sunset.

"News travels fast underground," was all Kira said as she takes a few steps closer to the duo. "You can relax your hand, Eli." Eli noticed how conspicuously she hid her hand and dropped it to her side.

"What are you here to tell us?" Nozomi tried to stare Kira down and leaned forward, but none of it had an effect. Kira looks down, then behind her, as if she were checking to see if the coast was clear.

"Look, I'm going to be as honest as I can." She uses both of her hands to motion to the girls to huddle together. Hesitantly, they do so. "But I...I don't want to do anything with you guys. I don't know what Management is thinking, or where they want you guys to end up, but I'm sick of this game." Eli moved her hand back near her pistol, in case Kira tried to pull something, but nothing came of it. "I don't want to mess with you guys anymore, and I'm sure you don't want us to mess with you."

"What are you suggesting?" Nozomi's brow furrowed, but even Eli could tell that she was shivering a little.

"I'm saying I'm on your side. Trust me, I really am." Kira looks around one more time. "Obviously, I don't want...any UTX people to know this, but..." Kira slows down her sentence. Judging by the skeptical looks Eli and Nozomi were giving her, she clearly wasn't being trusted. "I know, I'm not the highest on your guard-lowering list, but, I just...I guess I just wanted to tell you in person." Kira's eyes had softened considerably. They were no longer stiff or curtained like they were before. Kira had clearly let her walls down. "I'm sorry, if I wasted your time, but at least now, that...I heard Shion talking and...I think Honoka killed their boss." Eli turns around in shock while Nozomi covers her mouth. "I had no idea what they were talking about until they said-"

"Who told you?" Nozomi asks. Her mind was racing. How much did UTX and their network know? She wasn't doing a good job hiding this thought on her face however, as Tsubasa nearly giggled at the fear she unintentionally instilled.

"I told you. I heard Shion talking."

"Where?"

"On the phone?" Nozomi and Eli say together. Tsubasa had just confirmed that UTX was capable of tapping lines. They shrug it off for now, but will certainly remember.

"So what? Did you expect us to trust you right away?" Eli stands, away from their huddle. Tsubasa shook her head and smiled.

"Of course I didn't. But, I just wanted to tell you, I really am on your side." Tsubasa holds up a case to the two girls that they hadn't noticed before. She opens it up herself. Inside was a whole suitcase of cash. "100,000. You don't have to take if you-"

"We won't." Tsubasa felt the aggression begin. Perhaps they were overcompensating from trying to cover up their fear.

"A-Alright then," Tsubasa swallows, closes the case, and steps back. For once, Nozomi and Eli felt guilty for being so harsh, then remembered the possibility of this being an act. "I'll...see you later." The girl in the white uniform starts to walk away, looks back one more time and continues ahead.

"Hell of an actress, she is," Eli turns around as well and keeps walking to Nozomi's place.

* * *

 **This is worth about two chapters length of content. I'm trying to add more depth and detail, so I'll be focusing more on that for now. My daily schedule will most likely change to a chapter roughly every 2-3 days.**

 **pls don't be disappointed me im wasting my summer for this.**

 **Thanks anyways,  
** **-DWalkthroughGuy**


	14. In the Heart of the Lion's Den

The girls were gathered around the table the next day, the same way they were before. It had become a habit to visit the safe house for at least half an hour or so before they went along their way. None of it meant anything to the girls, not without anything to do, and not with their leader knocked out of her position. Aqours had really been the only thing that had happened. Were they even doing this correctly?

"So..." Rin sweeps her finger across the table, her other hand being used to rest her head on. "Is this how we stop UTX?" she groans. They all had very little, but serviceable, knowledge on the operation of guns, and about half of the team had a taste of the game they were playing, if it was the right game at all. "If we don't do something by the end of this term, we won't even get to start the school year, nya." While they couldn't exactly empathize, Eli and Nozomi sigh. Honoka's head rested on Nozomi's shoulder as Honoka slept. Rin was right. They came to the awful, avoided truth that they knew nothing of what they were doing. They needed a hand to guide them through illegality, rather than having reasons themselves for it.

"Isn't the whole point of being criminals having crimes to commit, nya?" Rin says.

"I don't know. What do you suggest?" Eli snaps, immediately regretting having done so.

"What if we...infiltrate UTX?...no, we don't have the manpower..." Rin nuzzled her head into the crease of her elbow face down. Her eyes peeked above her arm and watched the rain outside continue to pour. "Don't mafias have like, spies or something?" She was clearly thinking out loud with little regard to logic. "I just think we should be doing something instead of just sitting here everyday."

"Spies?" Kotori's voice startled everyone else. She was almost always silent during their daily meets. "What do you mean?" Rin sits up, her mind trying to scramble together a clarification.

"W-Well, like, you know, go in pretending to be someone that's pretending to work for µ's but is really pretending to work for UTX?" Her explanation only made the confusion worse.

"You're with us, right?" Eli looks at Kotori, who nods. "So you go into UTX, and you pretend to work for them. At the same time, you pretend to work against us. You're a spy for us, but they think you're a spy for them." It took a while, but it started to make sense. "It's called double agentry."

"Sounds scary..." Hanayo whispers, her head on the table with both of her arms laid forward. "What if you get caught?" They shrug off Hanayo's remark, avoiding the thoughts that would most likely turn them into Honoka.

"Sounds like a plan. We just need to scout the area, right? See if A-RISE is willing to negotiate," Eli says, temporarily taking control as the leader. "Who wants to do it?" The thought of being caught in the act of being a double agent, and the possible consequences of being captured by UTX shook them to the bone. The silence suggested that no one was going to volunteer. Seeing this, Eli walks over to a stand where a stack of tin cans and a thermos of tea sat. Taking a tin, she walks back to the table and drops it on the middle. "We'll cast lots, then."

With Maki and Honoka out of the game for now, only five pencils of random, varying sizes were placed eraser first in the can. They closed their eyes as they each took one. The one with the most worn out eraser, or the one that didn't have any left, was the supposed spy. Kotori opens her eyes. The other girls were looking at her. Kotori moves her eyes moves down to the pencil she picked—no eraser. "Well? What do you know," Eli sits down, putting her pencil down on the table with unnecessary precision. "Turns out the bird's got the view." Kotori knew she had to contribute somehow to the group, or else she wouldn't be a part of it. But a spy?

"Well, I suppose she's innocent enough," Nozomi grunts as she readjusts Honoka's weight. "I...wasn't exactly imagining anyone gather any intelligence gathering of this sort."

"Neither was anyone," Eli sighs. "Well? What info do we have to gather?" The girls were baffled at how recklessly they threw each other around with little to no knowledge of why.

"I guess just...plans, or, whatever seems useful." Rin ruefully laughs at her vague and unhelpful response. Kotori gulps noticeably, her frozen state getting the girls' attention.

"Kotori?" Eli had said it, trying to get her attention to no avail. "Are you going to be fine taking this on yourself? We don't have any form of communication while you're inside-"

"I'm fine. I'll be fine." Kotori's mind only went back to the gun pointed at her from Tsubasa. Would the latter trust that Kotori wouldn't try to enact revenge? Even Kotori knew she herself was incapable of violence, even with the current circumstances. Everything leading up to this point was negligible compared to forcibly ending one's life. To Kotori, such a thought had never even entered her mind, and now she was faced with the decision and the power to do so.

"Better schedule to shadow with someone in there," Nozomi exhales. "Maybe you'll get lucky and you get an A-RISE member."

"You think A-RISE would do something like shadow?" Hanayo sits up, but hunches forward, her arms extended and in her lap.

"Perhaps. With someone like Kotori, it'd be valuable to them too," Rin says, implying a threat. "Not, that, she isn't..."

"Very well then. Let's see how good you act under pressure," Eli nods to Kotori, only cementing the pressure mounted against the latter.

* * *

Kotori stood in front of the looming high school ahead. Instead of taking a left to Otonokizaka's entrance to the safe house at the beginning of school, she headed to the right. The unfamiliar territory during her walk only made things worse as she tried to walk the streets alone without being recognized. It was hard enough thinking about the operation, let alone throwing stress on top of that. Luckily, she arrives without event, observing the split that ran down the middle of the tower. Even to this day, after visiting it on numerous occasions with the rest of µ's, it felt like a gratuitous complex for a high school.

Someone in the crowd spots Kotori and starts making their way through the crowd. "Hey there. I guess I'm your shadow for today." Tsubasa had said it, her cool tone freezing Kotori in place. Memories of the gun started to creep into Kotori's mind, but she shook it off.

"Good afternoon."

"No need to be formal. This way," Tsubasa motions for Kotori to follow without looking back to see if the latter was even following. While Kotori initially interpreted it as arrogance, she saw it as a way to mask their profile by not drawing too much attention to themselves. Once they were inside and Kotori got the green light to pass, Tsubasa pulls her by the hand up an elevator. The hallway of the floor they were on was carpeted so cleanly that Kotori felt guilty stepping on it. "It's fine. Indoor and outdoor shoes are a waste of time in my opinion." Tsubasa kept on walking like before, having sensed Kotori's doubt without even having to glance.

Kotori had been led to a waiting room. "It'll be a moment." And with that, Tsubasa left the room. Kotori sat all by herself in the spacious area, looked to be built for a larger crowd. Instead of individual chairs, the room had couches along the walls, and some couches were in the middle of the room. Kotori felt odd and out of place in such an environment. The places Tsubasa had taken her up to this point had been nothing but a blur to Kotori.

'At least I know where the elevator is...'

"Ms. Minami?" The formal greeting from her apparent shadow catches her by surprise. "This way, please!"

Kotori stared at herself in the mirror, decked out in UTX's signature all-white uniform. She felt pushed around, but somehow okay with it. Led by the hand into UTX, made to wait and then dressed for the opposing team in just a matter of minutes without a word to put in. Kotori exited the dressing room, where Tsubasa was waiting. She had on a white beret, and looked Kotori up and down with a smile. "I have to admit, it fits quite well. Standard protocol for all incoming students as not to look so, you know, out of place." Kotori responds with a sheepish smile of her own, wondering if Tsubasa understood the contradiction in her statement. "Come on, to my office." Without questioning how a student had their own office, Kotori went along and trailed Tsubasa.

They walked down a hallway running parallel with the windows. It hadn't struck Kotori how high up they were until she saw for herself. The view of the city was phenomenal, with no other buildings in UTX's height to obstruct it. It wasn't the tallest building she's been in, but Kotori couldn't shake off the fact that this was a high school. Perhaps Kotori had learned to expect and accept things as they are, and thought if that was a positive or negative trait. "You play chess?" Tsubasa says, seemingly out of nowhere. Kotori looks away from the glass wall.

"Uh...a little bit, yeah." They enter Tsubasa's study. It reminded Kotori a bit of her mother's office in Otonokizaka. "Please, have a seat." Bookshelves lined the wall on the back, while couches and plants took up the center. 'I wonder if they live here too...' The light from the morning sun streamed from the hallway they were just in. No artificial light was in the room, not even a small lamp. The bright, energetic rays of the sun were cut by the shutters, barely providing enough light for Kotori to see despite it nearing noon. Tsubasa, on the other hand, looked fine. They sit across from each other with a desk in between. A wooden chessboard with wooden pieces had already been set up, as if Tsubasa had it ready for this specific purpose. They were intricately designed and most likely hand-carved. Kotori could tell it was expensive.

Tsubasa pushes aside the golden plaque that read her name and moves her king's pawn two squares ahead before saying, "Your move." Kotori moves a pawn of her own while watching Kira's face carefully. Tsubasa seemed deep in thought, but not because of the game. "A Sicilian defense," she notes, before moving another pawn to the center of the board. "You know why I brought you up here, right?" Kotori looks up from her thinking and shakes her head. "Well, I know you're not planning on moving here."

Kotori wasn't sure if she wanted to lie or not, moving another pawn to the battlefront with caution. "I came here to talk to you," Kotori tries to sound assertive, but was too unsure of herself and lacked the confidence for the mood.

"I'm sure you were." Tsubasa moves a knight to back her active pawns. "But I know you're not really here to shadow." Kotori nods.

"Of course." Tsubasa leans in, seemingly not getting through to Honoka's one spy.

"Let's cut the bullshit. You're not really here to shadow." Kotori tries to hide herself gulping, and moves one of the pawns in the edges. "We're here to discuss business." Tsubasa leans back into her seat, talking before taking an exposed pawn with her bishop. "And from what I can tell, business means taking us down." Kotori was in danger, and their meeting had only started. Moving without much thought, she moves her queen to threaten the bishop. Tsubasa sees this and moves the bishop back a square.

"That's what µ's wants to think," Kotori says, trying her best to sound relaxed. It seemed to work so far. She decided to hold off on her double agentry for now, just to feel out how the whole espionage game really was about. Tsubasa places her other knight behind the bishop. Tsubasa rests her elbows on the table.

"You feel differently?" Tsubasa looks from her intertwined hands. Kotori had to keep trying. She couldn't lose her footing here. She develops more of her board by letting a knight into the battlefield.

"I don't think they're wrong, but I don't want anything to do with it." Kotori sighs, trying to piece together a strategy with her position. "I can't stand to see them hurt themselves so recklessly." Only the sound of a quiet clock pierced the silence, once every second, as Tsubasa tried to feel out Kotori as well.

"Why'd you volunteer to go here then?"

"They wanted me to." Tsubasa moves a pawn to threaten the knight.

"And? You could have said no." Kotori looks up from the chess game and up to Tsubasa. Kira didn't expect such emotion from the former.

"I'm trying to take them down from the inside." Kotori pushes the endangered knight forward to avoid the pawn. "They think they can learn about UTX from me." Tsubasa chuckles, shaking her head and moving another pawn to threaten Kotori's knight.

"Really? Is that so?" Kotori had no choice but to retreat the horse, having only brought out more of Tsubasa's forces. "They think it's just easy to spy." Kotori wasn't sure if she had convinced Tsubasa that Kotori was on UTX's side, but she kept going anyways. Tsubasa continued moving one of her knights forward, now on Kotori's half of the board. "They don't understand, and I commend you for seeing that."

"What should I tell them?" Kotori's hand retracts from her queen and instead moves a pawn forward to threaten the Tsubasa's knight. Tsubasa takes the pawn, and Kotori does the same.

"Playing with drugs and waving guns around doesn't qualify you as a mafia. Sacrifices aren't enough." Despite losing a pawn, Tsubasa forges her knight ahead, and snuggles it next to the king and an adjacent bishop. A friendly bishop covered the knight's position. "You have to play smart. This is a business, after all." They both lose their knights in the process. "Not just a street gang. They're bullies, killing for insults, "honor", "love", running from the law." Tsubasa clicks her tongue and shakes her head. "They're just wasting their lives." Her bitterness for them was clear. "But, that's how they play. We play our game, they play theirs."

"Then, what is UTX?" Tsubasa moves her queen, putting Kotori's king in check through an opening. Kotori blocks the queen by placing a pawn diagonally from it.

"We're a real mafia. We make money because we're a business. That's all we are. We work with others when it's appropriate, and eliminate liabilities in the system." The way Tsubasa put it only made Kotori more insecure in the office she was in. Kotori couldn't help but think how much safer she would feel if she had smuggled a gun into UTX. Tsubasa ignores the block and moves her queen to put the king in check again somewhere else. "Seiran, Shinonome, Shion Institute. Those are mafias. They work for money."

"Do they work for you?" Kotori remembers Seiran High School mentioned by Chika and You, a prime supply of weaponry.

"Not all of them. And even then, they're not UTX's subordinates. We're partnerships. We ally ourselves." The thought of ententes and enemies only made the fear for her life grow. She moves the king away from danger, but instead gives up an untouched rook. "The Yakuza play fair, but they're on a different league. We learn from them, we strive to be them. But we try not to touch them. We're still schoolgirls, after all." Kotori retreats a queen to corner Tsubasa's, but instead gives Tsubasa's queen an opening to escape, taking a pawn with her. "For our age, we try not to be one step ahead, but a whole mile."

This whole time, Kotori had mostly been reacting to Tsubasa's decisions, setting herself up for traps only to let assailants run away each time, with minimal to no losses. "That's how we play. Or at least, in a nutshell." Kotori's queen chases after Tsubasa's queen, but instead, the latter dodges the threat and delves deeper into Kotori's territory. "There are pawns, there are knights, there are queens and there are kings." Tsubasa continues her incursion, wiping out Kotori's forces one by one. With just a single queen, Tsubasa had managed to suppress her adversary to their side, and slowly bled away their power. "It's up to the king how they are to be used."

Kotori sat in disbelief. Her entire army was almost gone. "I'll tell them to give up." Tsubasa smirks.

"I'd tell you to quit while you're ahead, but, to us, you're way behind." After a short game of cat and mouse, Kotori finally traps Tsubasa's queen with her own, and they take each other out. Smiling at her accomplishment, she looks on to the rest of her board. Only a few pawns, a rook and two bishops remained at her disposal. Her smile fades quickly. "I urge you not to try us."

"I know they won't quit," Kotori says, arranging her pieces into an attack formation. "They've already committed, and I know for sure Honoka won't let this go." Tsubasa observe's Kotori's expression unimpressed.

"Committed, huh?" As Kotori fought valiantly, Tsubasa kept her pieces protected and kept her king untouchable. Soon, Kotori's king was nestled in a corner with three pawns and a bishop. "They're committing to the wrong goal." Kotori tries to fall back deeper, but instead finds herself at the back of the board. "They have no business quarreling with us. Do what the other schools are doing and do your own thing, just try not to step up to us. I'm aware of that Uranohoshi group as well, self-proclaimed rivals of UTX. They gave themselves a name, but I forget. They're not that dangerous to me. They think they're being righteous, but really, they're only stooping to our level. I admit, our business is rather underhanded, but you'll be surprised how cheap it is for police to look the other way."

"How much?"

"Enough to fund the entire Tokyo department." Kotori's eyes widened. Cheap? "I guess to your group, that's a lot?" Kotori nods. "Hmph. See what I mean? Your group needs help." Another queen Tsubasa got from promotion threatens the king, leaving only one space for the latter to go. Kotori could see it now. In fact, she saw it long ago. The way Tsubasa moved her pieces to seemingly insignificant locations was all part of her final plan, to force Kotori to move to a single square, a square she thought was just a path to refuge, but instead served as the dot on the target all along. Tsubasa relocates a knight to threaten the king once more. Kotori checked every possible option she had, the pawns by her side, the spaces her king could run to, but nothing would work.

She tips over her king using her finger. "Checkmate." Kotori leans back in her chair, surprised at the amount of skill and orchestration Tsubasa employed. Tsubasa continues to keep her head cradled above her two hands as she observed the position of the board and the pieces watching alongside it. "It's a game of give and take, and I can't risk playing it anymore."

Kotori, initially staring out the sunny window, looks to Tsubasa, the latters' eyes still trained onto the pieces. "What do you mean, can't risk playing it anymore?"

"The Feds are onto us. The police can't cover for us too long now and the Americans are getting suspicious. I wouldn't be surprised if China gets roped into it as well." While Kotori didn't understand a word said, but she could detect the shift in Tsubasa's tone. The initially confident and intimidating demeanor now turned frustrated and somewhat desperate. It was a subtle transition, one only found through the eyes and the mouth. "It's those damn idols under us. Their operations and shootouts get louder and louder, interrupting civilians, interrupting trade, closing down streets. They're taking our protection for granted, and I hate it." Kotori eyed the beret on Tsubasa and noticed a conspicuous half-circle near one of the edges, like something tore a half-hole into it. "And these...stupid, stupid politicians. Getting themselves caught in these pointless scandals. One by one, we're losing them. Avoidable, incurable mistakes. For what? Greed? Lust? We give them all the money they could need and yet here we are, continuously losing our protection from them as well."

Tsubasa buried her face in her hands. Kotori didn't know what else to do other than sit silently.

"What I'm trying to say is, UTX is going down for sure, and I don't want anyone getting hurt while it happens. I've been trying to get Anju and Erena to quit now, but they say that we'll be fine. That it'll magically work out in the end." Tsubasa shakes her head. "I know we won't be fine, and if we won't go down ourselves, I'll help someone else do it for us." Kotori smells a deal come on. Tsubasa motions for Kotori to come closer, the former eyeing the cameras and microphones online in the room. "I'm willing to help you guys as long as it's in the interest of eliminating UTX," she had whispered it into Kotori's ear. "We got a deal?"

As they separate, they lock eyes. Amber eyes of disbelief and green eyes of anticipation meet. Kotori didn't expect the visit at all to end with Tsubasa on their side. Perhaps she won't need to be a double agent after all. Kotori wasn't sure if she could speak for the rest of µ's, or if this was an elaborate scheme, but Kotori wondered how much µ's really knows. As far as they were both concerned, nothing. Yet again, this could be a matter of life and death. She shifts in her seat and faces Tsubasa with the utmost seriousness. "How can I be sure to trust you?"

Tsubasa leans back into her chair, staring at her lap to think. "Alright, here's my idea. I'll grant you three wishes. Three wishes that I'll try my best to fulfill by the time we're finished." Tsubasa holds up three of her fingers, and Kotori nods. "Just ask for it and I'll see what I can do. I'll grant them as soon as possible, just so you know you can trust me." It was rather enticing to ask for money, but Kotori shook her head, knowing that'd it be illegitimate and dirty anyways.

"I wish for everyone's safety." Tsubasa shakes her head.

"Unfortunately, that is beyond my control. Try something else." Kotori places her finger under her chin.

"Okay...then can I ask for Honoka to return to normal?" It killed Kotori more than anyone else to see Honoka's current state of mind, and couldn't imagine what her family must be going through as well. Tsubasa smirks.

"That I can do. Second wish?"

"I...I wish that everybody else joins. All nine of us are in it as µ's." Tsubasa nods slowly.

"That I can assure. Final wish?" Kotori thought long and hard. Like before, she didn't like speaking for everybody, especially knowing their polarities and wildly differing opinions. However, knowing that she might never get another opportunity like this again, she swallows and faces Tsubasa. Asking to save the school would also not be in Tsubasa's control, seeing how it was a decision of A-RISE.

"I want this whole game to end." Tsubasa chuckles.

"The mafias? Everything?" Kotori nods determinedly. Tsubasa glances at the clock hanging on the wall, ignoring how dark the room had gotten. The sound of the nearby city flowed into the room as they sat. "All idols exiting the life of crime?" Kotori nods again, more vigorously than before. Tsubasa shrugs rather indifferently, as if to say that it was easy business. She extends a hand over the chessboard of defeated pieces for Kotori to shake, which she does without dubiety.

"And that, I can promise."

* * *

 **Wew, finally. Another chapter done. I hope these are better than the other chapters, which I felt were rushed and underdone, so please feel free to tell me if it is different quality-wise, at least I hope it is.**

 **I may or may not be taking a break from writing for a few weeks due to some family stuff, so expect that to slow down. I'll certainly be trying to continue while I'm away, though!**

 **Thanks anyways,  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	15. Smoke and Mirrors

With the relief of her family and her friends, Honoka seemed to have calmed down, her nightmares subsided and decreased in intensity as of late. Honoka's mother was unsure how her friends had done it, but they settled Honoka down in only a matter of a week without professional treatment. Knowing the situation of the school closing down and the shop being in danger, the Kousakas would most likely not be able to afford it anyways. They express their absolute gratefulness, and Honoka insisted on going to school the following day.

"She's been fine so far, Mrs. Kousaka," Kotori waves, having dropped by to pick Honoka up from school. She heard from the rest of µ's that she was planning on going today and wanted to be the one to reintroduce her to society. "I doubt she'll cause any problems..." Much to her surprise, the mother agreed to let her go. Perhaps it was because she was causing too much of a hassle in the house.

"I doubt she's that kind of mother..." she whispers, helping Honoka out the door. It had been a while she had been in her uniform, but she seemed to take it normally. Kotori was especially scared not knowing what Honoka's triggers were. "Come on, Honoka. You ready?" The redhead responds with a nod, but still refused to make eye contact. Kotori smiles, happy that she had some semblance of a conversation. "Alright, let's go!"

At school, Kotori kept an eye on Honoka during class. She feared and expected a violent breakdown to take place in the middle of class, but nothing happened. Honoka looked rigid and stiff, but calm and collected, as if she were on edge. She answered questions directed towards her punctually and concisely with a monotone and expressionless voice. It wasn't like Honoka, but it was better than before, and Kotori had a feeling it would get even better. While a purple-haired transfer student introduced themselves to the class, Kotori glances at Honoka to check on her. The redhead was drawing something on her notebook.

On the paper was a picture of a car, presumably after a crash. The windows were shattered, and glass littered the road. Kotori had no idea how good of a drawer Honoka was. It wasn't the best, but it was certainly more than Kotori expected from her. 'This must be her way of expressing her fears...' Kotori thought, admiring the fight still within the leader of µ's. Maybe she wouldn't need Tsubasa to grant the wish after all.

* * *

By the end of school, a good portion of Honoka's frozen state had melted away, and more of her normal self returned in bits and pieces. It was good progress for the first day, and everything had gone smoothly. Kotori followed her around for the majority of the day, and even trailed after her when she asked to go to the bathroom. After the two had taken care of their student council responsibilities at the behest of Umi, they were standing outside their shoe lockers, preparing to finally head home.

Kotori sighed in relief, glad that nothing serious happened. If she could pass today, there was no doubt that she could pass tomorrow. Kotori smiles as she slips on her outdoor shoes. Even though Honoka talked only when spoken too, her mind returned to memories of how Honoka used to be. Honoka's older self when she discovered school idols inspired everybody at the time.

"Kotori." The redhead said it. Even in her emotionless tone, Kotori was startled. She didn't say anything to prompt her response. Honoka drops her outdoor shoes to the floor, places her indoor shoes into the cubby. Her hand started to close the locker as she turns to face Kotori to her left. "I want to say thank-"

 _BOOM!_

Honoka was interrupted by a blisteringly loud explosion. They were both shoved to the ground from the blast, away from the locker they were using. The same ringing had returned to their ears. Kotori could see nothing. The flash blindness combined with the tinnitus caused her head to spin. Nausea immediately seized her as she checks her body. Miraculously, there were no cuts or pierces from the blast that Kotori could feel. Soon, her eyes started to adjust. With the white of the flash gone, she could barely make out anything with her blurry eyesight. She crawls around woozily on her hands and knees.

She turns to see Honoka, lying on the ground. A pool of blood was beginning to form underneath her.

* * *

Eli, Nozomi, Rin and Hanayo sat in the hospital room with Honoka. Bandages were wrapped around half of her head, completely covering her right eye. She was dressed in a hospital gown, but more bandages covered her body in places where the explosion had burned and locker shrapnel had pierced. While the bomb that was most definitely rigged into her shoe locker wasn't a serious threat to Honoka's life, it surely took a toll on her condition. A bigger bomb would have done the trick, but that wasn't the case. Kotori was in the hospital room adjacent to them, thanks to her being relatively untouched from the explosion. The fact that the explosive was a shaped charge might also have helped Kotori's chances. When the girls arrived, the brunette was sleeping. Besides, they were more worried about Honoka's state anyways.

In Honoka's hospital room, they were discussing the incident in more detail. "Either the bomb failed to detonate in its entirety, or it was purposefully small enough for Honoka to survive it. But..." The girls found it odd that they had no emotion to the blast itself, and were more focused on the perpetrator and their intent. Sure, Honoka's life had almost ended, but they were weirdly over it. Maybe their mind was finally sick of being sad and scared. "Who?"

"Are there any suspects?" Rin, in a sudden change of personality, crosses her legs in her chair and strokes her chin with her thumb and index finger. She had stopped saying "nya" altogether since Kotori returned from her operation in UTX. Hanayo had also hardened recently, putting on a dark and menacing air around her. She didn't think about justifying her attitude. It was most likely imitating the atmosphere her friends set, and Hanayo adapting accordingly. Nevertheless, her sudden change was off-putting to everyone else.

"No, but there have been a number of transfer students recently," Hanayo says dryly. Her tone was no longer shy, and her wall of insecurity and bashfulness had fallen by a considerable degree. There was no questioning that she was as scared as everyone else, but they had learned to handle things maturely, and to think logically, rather than always cowering in fear in hopes that it would go away on its own. "We can look into them and see if anyone suspicious comes up."

"Suspicious? Why would anyone want to enter in a school that's bound to shut down?" Nozomi retorts. "Of course they're suspicious."

"We don't know, what if they're there for UTX's arrival?" Hanayo responds, speaking as if she were deflecting blame.

"But moving nearing the end of the term sounds impractical," Rin butts in, cementing suspicions. "They're not innocent transfer students."

"Do you think we have a chance of asking Umi for help in the records?" Eli adds, hoping to use this as an opportunity to bring one of their remaining, excluded friends into their circle.

"She didn't even come when Honoka had a bomb blow up in her face, so, I doubt she'd give up anything like that to us," Nozomi sighs, shaking her head disapprovingly. "Come on, Umi, just this one time..." Honoka lay in her bed, the heartbeat machine continuing to pump out steady beats. The doctors had told the girls that she was in stable condition, and that the only damage were some moderate burns in the face and shrapnel in her right eye. However, Honoka's hope of keeping that eye was noticeably low, judging by the tone of the doctor. They were simply glad that she wasn't going to die, and that was the end of the story.

"By the way, what ever happened to Maki?" Rin asks, uncrossing her legs and leaning her elbows on her knees.

"She said her parents were caught in a car fire. Luckily she got them out before it exploded or anything," Eli explains, recalling a phone call she had with Maki earlier.

"Is...is she gonna be okay?" Rin wonders. Eli waves it off.

"She's alright. She's just staying with her parents. They're in their hospital, the one they own. I remember Maki said they were stable too."

"Th-That's good..." Rin clears her throat. Everyone could tell she was only asking to see when Maki would return. Rin herself was surprised how unsympathetic she had become for others, but, for some reason, she was okay with it. She negated that thought by telling herself there were worse things to worry about. They were alright, weren't they? There's no longer an issue anymore, so what was the point of continuing to worry?

The grim outlook worked, at least for the girls, and they continued to sit without anxiety. Only the heart monitor broke the silence. "So...I guess I'll see you all here tomorrow," Rin starts to get up from her seat, prompting the other girls to leave as well. "Are we meeting here then?" It was astonishing, but negligible, how easily Rin had commanded the group to follow her. They look to Eli, who nods.

"I guess we will be until she gets better." She remained in her seat, overlooking the leader of µ's as she remained unconscious. The rest of the group waited momentarily for Eli to join them, but seeing that she wasn't planning on standing any time soon, they decided to leave without her. "What am I going to do Honoka..." She places her elbows on her knees like Rin and buries her face in her hands. "I'm not cut out for this kind of leadership." Eli put her fingers to her temples.

* * *

In the adjacent room, Tsubasa had paid a visit to Kotori, unbeknownst to the rest of the girls. While she didn't quite expect her arrival, Kotori had treated it as a welcome surprise. Tsubasa brought in a vase of flowers and had set it next to the windowsill. From Kotori's position, she could barely see out the window. In order to rest, she closes her eyes but remains conscious of her surroundings. "Do the girls know you're here?" she says. Tsubasa overlooks the city below from the windowsill, arranging the flowers meticulously with her gloved hands.

"I don't believe they do." Kotori opened one eyelid, observing the UTX student. She didn't seem to have any malicious intent in the way she walked. Malice was something even Tsubasa couldn't hide. After carefully examining her, she began to turn around, prompting Kotori to close her eye again.

"Why did you come here?" Kotori asks out of curiosity. Tsubasa shrugs nonchalantly, taking a seat on one of the chairs next to Kotori's bed.

"I came here to check up on you and Honoka." Kotori wasn't sure what Tsubasa meant by that, but decided to go along with it. "Of course, I came here to talk business as well. We should regularly visit each other, you know?" Kotori opens her eyes, meeting Tsubasa's. They were the same, dull green that Kotori was so familiar with, but this time, they weren't somber. They weren't so tense from being over-observant, like when they scanned each and every µ's member Tsubasa talked to. Tsubasa sighed with relief, almost as if to exemplify the solace she feels when letting go of her rigidity.

Without hearing a word in response, Tsubasa continued. "I...actually came to invite you over to a hearing we're having." With this, Kotori was paying attention.

"Hearing?"

"A preliminary hearing. Some higher-ups are requesting UTX's presence," Tsubasa stood up again, looking back out the window. The sun was beginning to set, but the clouds in the sky had suppressed the light to only slight glows beyond them. "I personally came to invite you. It's a few days from now." Kotori somehow knew that there was no way to suggest another option. She was going, whether she wanted to or not. "Don't feel like I'm forcing you." Could Tsubasa read her mind? "The front office said you were fine."

"Do you know when I'll be discharged?" Kotori asks, fearing that Tsubasa already knew the answer. The latter nods eagerly.

"Tomorrow or the day after. You're not _that_ hurt, are you?" Kotori couldn't exactly lie, but she didn't want to make it sound like she didn't want to go. After all, she had decided to herself that there wasn't a choice in the matter anyways, lest she risk trivializing the one relationship she had with UTX that wasn't hostile. She nods, agreeing to join Tsubasa. "Great! However, you'll have to sit with the rest of the crowd, but you can certainly come close!"

"Aren't hearings, more of an American thing?" Kotori slowly and hesitantly mumbles. Tsubasa nods to this.

"Not as common here in Japan, but the police especially requested this particular case." Kotori looks off to the side, away from the windows. She was perfectly capable of standing up and walking on her own, but she simply didn't feel the need to. She chuckled at how a hospital had been the one to spoil her. "Because this case involves more than UTX." She falls silent again, perhaps for dramatic effect. "Another school's in on it."

Kotori decided not to ask why. She'll find out soon enough.

* * *

Just like Kotori was told, she was invited by anonymous UTX student agents into a clean, black car in front of Otonokizaka. She could tell that they had been waiting for her—students stared as the back door opened the moment Kotori stepped outside. The car looked like the one Tsubasa got into after pointing a gun at Kotori. It was the first day Kotori had returned to school since her discharge from the hospital, where Honoka remained. Kotori had made it her duty to learn hard, in Honoka's stead. The worried and sometimes contemptuous looks Umi would give her didn't help her anxiety, but Kotori kept herself composed.

Now she was facing a sleek entourage of bodyguards awaiting her presence. Weird and intimidated glances were being cast at her direction, from both students and passerby. Swallowing silently, she sheepishly smiles in response at one of the guards that opened the door for her before stepping inside, ignoring her surroundings to the best of her abilities. There was no questioning that everybody knew the girl that just waltzed into that car. Kotori could have just walked into a death trap, but had stopped that train of thought when she noticed a familiar hairstyle riding next to the driver. "Tsubasa," Kotori utters the name with no intent of greeting her, UTX's tratior took it as one anyways.

"Kotori! What'd I tell you? I'd let you come to the hearing." A sigh passes through Kotori as she settles into the leather back seat uncomfortably. She was going to have go alone; it was too late to tell the rest of µ's where she was headed without sounding rude, impatient or otherwise suspicious to the rest of the vehicle. The windows of the black car were tinted rather heavily, and the sounds generated from closing the door suggested it was armored and weighted. Obviously, it was a bit much for an escort like Kotori, but when she was lumped together with someone like Tsubasa, perhaps it made more sense.

They drive around town, but the tint of the windows prevented Kotori from seeing outside well enough to recognize her surroundings. Initially, Kotori would have had her hand on the door handle, ready to roll out into the street if necessary. How could she trust UTX in taking her where they said they would? However, Kotori sat still in bated breath, awaiting the car to take an unexpected turn and hold her hostage. Maybe it was because she was outnumbered significantly, or maybe it was because she knew that the people here would absolutely kill her if she even tried something, but she decided it was best to let her friend prove herself.

The courthouse Kotori was escorted into was much larger than she had expected. A mix of TV crews, news reporters and journalists were being held back by a line of policemen. What had Kotori gotten herself into? Was she going to be linked to UTX and their crimes? Sensing her doubt, Tsubasa called from in front of Kotori. "We got strings in the media, Kotori. µ's should be fine, trust me." While neither of them were looking at each other, it did little to give Kotori relief. For now, she tried to focus on why Tsubasa had brought her here, and more importantly, if agreeing to join her was worth it.

She heard her name among the cocktail of voices thrown at her as she made her way past the crowd. "Ms. Minami! Are you associated with the rumors of UTX and the black market?...Why have you joined A-RISE and their subpoena?...Are you acquainted with Don Kira?" Her body was being rushed forward by guards behind her, hoping to get her inside as quickly as possible.

Reporters and spectators continued to file into the scene as A-RISE sat in one desk at the front. Another group of students which uniforms Kotori couldn't recognize sat in another. Unlike A-RISE, they had an attorney sitting with them. Across from the two desks was a panel partially filled with committee members, mostly made up of authorities in the government and the police department. Their intimidating presence served only a small slice of the fear Kotori felt. Luckily, the press was more focused on A-RISE and the opposing school, instead of her. If Kotori knew she was going to be picked up now, she would've told her mother ahead of time.

Proceedings began as the panelists took their seats along with the rest of the congregation. The hearing began without red tape, as the center of the panel spoke into his corresponding microphone. "We are gathered here today in light of a new witness regarding the Case of UTX, accused of holding power and responsible of operating a criminal empire extorting schools into, quote unquote, 'submission'. Ms. Kurosaki, if you may?" Kotori couldn't help but note how it sounded much like a trial, but brushed it off when she saw the schoolgirl push her chair back and stand in front of her desk. She had in her hand a small stack of papers.

"Thank you, senator. I have here in my possession a collection of evidence that will prove UTX has criminal intent as they continue to take schools 'under their wing'." While Kotori couldn't see Kurosaki's face, she could tell from just her voice alone that she had a serious expression. The assembly was silent, awaiting further explanation until the senator cleared his throat and leaned forward.

"Would you mind presenting this evidence?" Some of the other committee members whispered to one another as Kurosaki cleared her throat.

"Here is a documented, official copy, signed from UTX Administration, that was sent to Tooh Academy." Before she continued, her lawyer whispered with a pleading look from his seat, but Kurosaki shrugs him aside. "I find it evident that from the contents of this document, that-"

"And what does it request from you, Ms. Kurosaki?" One of the other committee members shoots a tired glance her way, causing her to visibly gulp.

"It...It requests, using a threatening tone to abrogate our responsibilities as a school and transfer ownership to...UTX." Her lack of confidence was beginning to crack through her otherwise strong-willed demeanor. The panel was doubting her, and they weren't afraid to show it.

"Transfer ownership? Can, can we get a closer look at that?" The police chief turns to one of the presiding officers to take the documents. Kurosaki swallows in anxiety again as she hands the faceless officer her documents. "Hm..." It looked like the panel wanted to believe her. After all, Kurosaki and Tooh Academy were one of their only leads against UTX.

"If I may, Chief," Tsubasa says from her seat. She was leaning on one of the armrests, slumped to the side as casual as can be. The lack of fear in her face shook the crowd. "Do you mind if we confirm the...validity of the document?" The Chief, who was reluctant to deal with Tooh before, gave an astonished look at Tsubasa, and nodded with insincere eagerness.

"Y-Yes, of course!" She made no effort in suppressing her show of power. The same officer who took the documents from Tooh's representative brought the papers to Tsubasa. Erena and Anju sat next to Tsubasa, with the same air of personality they held during their idol work. Tsubasa skimmed over the paper, not even reading it, before dropping it to the table in front of her.

"As I see from it here, these 'documents' are not official." Tsubasa changes her happy, softened smile to a cement-hard glare at Kurosaki before turning to the panel, some of which returned a similarly scared look. "I believe these are not valid."

"Where is your proof? How can we believe you?" The congregation was abuzz as the press started to move in with their cameras. Tsubasa, still from her seated position, scoffs.

"Proof? Take another look. Do you see a certified UTX seal anywhere? Is there an official pen-on-paper signature there? It says that I supposedly signed this, but I have no power over the administration business. I am an idol, Ms. Kurosaki." She pauses to turn around and look over the shocked crowd, a mix of impressed and frightened. "Every, single official who deals with UTX _knows_ how we validate our documents. Isn't that right, senator?" Tsubasa shoots a cocky smile at the leader of the panelists, who gives a nod. Unlike some of the panelists, he was unfazed. He trusted the law to protect him, and found no reason to be afraid of a schoolgirl half his age.

"Of course, Ms. Tsubasa, but, may I ask, how Tooh Academy had access to these papers, if these are not valid, as you say?"

"Well, we certainly didn't give it to them." She picks the papers up and drops it again, giving the table a slap.

"But we have a sworn affidavit, from you, that UTX has given every secondary school in the Tokyo area a formal request to rescind their ownership," a panelist leans towards the microphone. "Do you deny this?" To this, Tsubasa shrugs.

"I'm not denying that, but how can you prove that 'extortion' was being used on all of them? Any of them, in fact? There was no mention of any threat of any kind in official documentation." She looked down at the papers with contempt. "I frankly don't understand why there are so many forgeries of us using such underhanded tactics to get our ways." The buzz of the crowd heightened to a loud frenzy. More press filed into the room and the panelists were beginning to shuffle in their seats, searching through documents and speaking with one another.

"Are you, Ms. Tsubasa, implying that these respectable young women _forged_ these documents to frame you?" The senator had a tenser look in his face as he gazed Tsubasa right in the eye. Tsubasa shook her head.

"I'm not simply implying, senator, I'm indicting them." The congregation exploded.

"What about the incident with Otonokizaka?" the senator replies, seemingly unable to believe her words. The sound of the assembly would have completely drowned the senator's words were it not for the microphones.

"Don't you remember, senator? Those documents were proven to be fake." Kotori was unsure if it meant that her school was safe, but it didn't seem to be. What if the forgery was a plant, a trap meant to ensnare those who dare use it as "evidence" against UTX? The message was being sent either way. Kotori stands up to see past the crowd and saw half of Kurosaki's face. Instead of being scared or angry, she noticed that Kurosaki was crying, as if she was emotionally hurt, betrayed.

"Y-Yes...indeed they were..." the senator looked through more of the documents in front of him, clearly confused. More shuffling ensued in the panel as authorities scrambled to prove Tsubasa wrong. However, they were hiding from inevitable fact that they simply couldn't. "Alright, we're gonna have to investigate further into Tooh Academy. This committee is adjourned, the witness is excused." And with that, a gavel smacked the table as everybody stood up at once. Press was now crowding both UTX and Kurosaki's desk, which was now practically invisible through the fog of the crowd. Kotori eventually found her way to the center of the press, with the rest of A-RISE along with it. Perhaps siding the UTX was a mistake. Was that Otonokizaka's fate as well?

"Ms. Minami!...Ms. Minami, have you given your approval to A-RISE's alleged rumors?...Why did you join them today?" Kotori was now the one leading A-RISE outside, where policemen were forging a path to black cars waiting for them. Kotori remembered how popular and famous she got as an idol, but that was completely different compared to this. Everyone's stone cold expression looked like they were against you, rather than cheering you on. They were questioning your integrity, your honesty, your morality, questioning everything about you. Kotori hated it. She hated every second of it.

Finally, they reached the open door of the air-conditioned black vehicle. Kotori and the rest of A-RISE stepped into it, with Tsubasa riding shotgun. The doors closed, and the volume immediately dropped. Kotori was the only one who took a moment to breathe, to take in what she had just pushed herself through, before looking up to see Tsubasa's smiling face.

"See what happens when someone tries to cross me?"

* * *

 **It's been almost a week and I finally got enough time to finish this chapter. Well, at least this is done and over with. On to chapter 16!**

 **Thanks anyways,  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	16. Just Business

Umi shook her head rather defiantly at Rin and Hanayo. "But, why?" Rin was the one that asked. She and Hanayo were denied access to the profiles of the new transfer students.

"I know what you're after. I don't want to be responsible for the death of innocent students," Umi's voice, initially respectful, but formal, now changed to one of disdain. She has and will remain adamant on abhorring crime, even at the cost of friendship.

"For Christ's sake, we're not _killing_ them-"

"Then why else are you asking for them?" Umi looked Rin dead in the eye, awaiting a response confidently knowing that Rin wasn't going to provide. Rin's eyebrows furrowed. Instead of retreating to neutrality as per usual, Hanayo took Rin's side.

"God, Umi! Honoka almost died! Don't you have any morality left in you? Don't you care about your friend? About anything?" Umi only scoffed.

"Friend? I am _not_ associating myself with criminals!" Seeing that none of this was getting through to Umi's head, Rin only pinched the bridge of her nose in disappointment and frustration. "You know they are the detriment to this society-"

"Alright, whatever Umi! Have it your way!" Rin was turning around to walk away when Umi shouted down the hall.

"So you're completely fine being criminals then? Being on the same level as the scum in the prison-"

"Oh, like you're so perfect, Umi! The law isn't everything, you know!" Hanayo shouted back. It came to all of them that she had partaken in the argument. "You think the government is so perfect too? That the law-" Umi interrupts her with a softer tone.

"I know they're not perfect, Hanayo, but don't you understand that the law is there for a reason?" At this, Rin and Hanayo stopped themselves before it turned into a shouting match.

"Come on, Kayo-chin, let it go..." Rin whispers, guiding her friend along by the arm. They shook their heads and started to walk away again. Umi thought that she had won, but the others knew that this was only going to go in circles. They were wasting their time.

"Don't worry. We'll find them," Rin places a hand on Hanayo's back. "We'll find them soon."

* * *

By now, rumors had spread to the whole school that what used to be µ's had become a street gang, mostly courtesy of Umi, who was denouncing them quite publicly. Even those who believe the rumor (and the truth) were getting tired of Umi's remarks. "Are you sure she's not just in denial? That she's lost her friends?" one of the students in her class whispered to another. Kotori was in earshot, and lowered her head. They might be right.

Kotori knows that the current mission, finding the perpetrator that bombed Honoka, had a higher priority than Umi. It was sad for the rest of µ's as well, how divided they had become. That wasn't going to stop them, however. The girls learned that leaving behind emotion was a crucial step, whatever the goal was, and this was no exception. Kotori had snuck a manila folder on the most recent transfer students. They were all from schools she didn't recognize. What was also interesting is that none of them were being taken under control of UTX.

* * *

"Hm..." Rin observed the profiles after school alongside Hanayo. "They look innocent to me."

"That's the problem, they only look the part," Hanayo takes a profile from the folder. "However, one of them piques my interest." Her choice of words made her sound off character. Was this the same Hanayo they were speaking to? "This girl." Hanayo points with her index finger at a small, square portrait of a purple haired girl, one that was introduced earlier this week.

"Huh. Looks like Nozomi's long-lost cousin," Rin comments, observing the rest of the profile. "Sakamaki Chiduko? What's so interesting about her?" Hanayo moves her index finger down to the school she transferred from.

"She's from Shion Women Institute," Hanayo reads aloud. "Remember? They were the school we ran into the other day." None of them found the pun humorous. "Anyways, I think it's safe to say they got our eyes on us. We killed their boss, didn't we?" The girls were surprised at the extent of Hanayo's knowledge. Who knew she had been thinking about this the whole time?

"How did you remember a detail so minute?" Kotori says, taking a hold of the profile to give it another look. She was a third-year. Kotori had barely acknowledged her presence, despite being in her class. If she came from Shion, and she has connections to the incident a few weeks ago, why else would she have transferred to the school at this time? The deadline for Otonokizaka's close was coming up fast. µ's had to do something, but this Sakamaki might hinder it.

"Well, thanks for the heads up, Kayo-chin." Rin pats Hanayo's shoulder once before turning around to head to the shoe lockers. "See you all in the hospital." Hanayo turned around to go after her, but stops, observing Kotori.

"So, what's the plan with keeping the school afloat?" Hanayo had whispered it, surprising Kotori.

"What do you mean?" Hanayo's eyes turned dark.

"What the hell do you mean, 'What do you mean'?! I mean the school closing down!" Kotori was almost scared how Hanayo had seemingly turned on her.

"O-Oh...uh..."

"What did Tsubasa say? Doesn't she have strings to pull..." Kotori had put her hands up, signalling Hanayo to calm down.

"C-Could you...back up a little?" Kotori whispers back. Hanayo, looking down and seeing that she was now leaning into Kotori and forcing her backwards, immediately pulls back, apologizing profusely.

"S-Sorry...I'm not...usually like this..."

"Eheheh..." Kotori rubs the back of her neck. 'I guess this whole ordeal's taking a toll on everyone, huh?'

"It's just...I don't know what to do. I've been hoping this whole time I could stay. That _we_ could stay. The other schools are turning into UTX too and I don't know where to turn..."

"Hanayo," Kotori says. The blonde looks up, meeting Kotori's eyes. "Tsubasa said it'll be fine."

"How?" Kotori looks off to the side, watching the sun begin to illuminate the horizon once more.

"She said she'll keep us under one contingency." Kotori looks behind and around her to check if anyone else was in the hallway. Only she and Hanayo remained. Cleaning finished up just a few minutes ago. "We must kill a second time."

* * *

Everybody had assembled into Honoka's hospital room, including Maki, who had returned from her business with her family. She repeated that they were alright, that there was no serious harm done, but that she would certainly get to the bottom of whoever did it. "Why was the police investigation cancelled?" she asks the group, hoping to get an answer from them.

"Tsubasa said that UTX provides an even playing field for everyone. All the mafia families," Kotori explains, leaned back into her chair and crossing her legs so that an ankle was on her knee. "So, if she somehow called off the investigation here, that must mean a mafia was involved." Maki's eyes turned ablaze.

"Are you serious? She's letting them get away with this?" Nozomi puts a hand up to call for silence.

"I think Tsubasa's doing us a great favor by playing fair. That means we can wet our beaks into this business and not have to worry about the police being on our backs," she explains. Maki, who was leaning forward accusingly, rests back into her chair. "I certainly think she's doing us all a favor."

"Remember, she's still our enemy, Nozomi," Maki retorts quietly with her arms crossed.

"Our enemy happens to have a mole working for us. Isn't that awfully nice of them?" Nozomi shoots back a glare that told Maki to be quiet, which she does obediently. "Now, onto business."

Honoka was awake now, a white eye patch covering her right eye. Two strings wrapped around her head, coming around both above and under her left eye. "So, who's the bastard that did this to me?" Stitches ran in a line through her right eye as well. Everyone was certain that it'd be a hell of a story to tell. The girls moved around in their seats awkwardly. "What?" Perhaps they were expecting too much of a dramatic reaction from Honoka than they received.

"We found a suspect that we're looking into," Hanayo says, pulling out the same manila folder Kotori held earlier. This time it only held the profile of Sakamaki Chiduko. "This is a transfer from Shion Women Institute." Hanayo holds out the folder for Honoka to take. The latter reads it with her left eye slightly squinted.

"The school we ran into the other day." Again, nobody laughed. "You gonna kill her or what?"

"U-Uh...we don't know if she's the one..." Kotori sheepishly stutters. "We have to find that out..."

"Well, if no one's gonna do it, I'll be the one to do the honors." Honoka sets the folder down, letting her head fall back into the pillows of her hospital bed. "I wanna get the hell outta this place as soon as possible." The bomb had changed Honoka for sure, but the girls were somewhat surprised at how vulgar she had gotten. "Like anyone wants to be cooped up in this damned place anyway..."

"So, we're going to keep looking into her movements during and after school...just to...see if she's the one," Rin cuts into Honoka's monologue before the ratings changed.

"Are we gonna question her directly at some point?" Hanayo asks. Rin shakes her head.

"Not this soon in the investigation. All we gotta do is keep an eye on her," Rin eyes Kotori, causing everyone to do the same. "Until Honoka the Sailor gets out of the hospital, we're counting on you to look after 'em." Kotori gulped. Tasked into espionage, and now into surveillance?

'At least my repertoire's improving' Kotori thinks, only giving a nod in response. "I'll try my best." Rin nods in gratitude. With no other business to discuss, the girls found it strange to talk about other things. They usually buzzed with excited conversation about the latest gossip or the latest trends, like most girls their age, but they find it so distant, so tasteless and fleeting. Some of them regretted losing the interest in it, while others wondered what else they would lose interest to as well. How much of their past selves will be left after this?

"Everyone." Eli spoke sternly. She hadn't spoken this entire time, and her sudden voice startled them. "I plan on flying back to Russia soon. I still have some school there to finish." The girls exchange awkward glances. "I was supposed to go back a week ago, but..."

"Can't you stay a little longer? At least until Nico and Umi join?" Honoka spits, her arms crossed like Maki. Eli shakes her head.

"Let's face it, that won't happen for a long while," the Russian chuckles. "It was supposed to be a short visit with Nozomi, maybe even you guys if I got lucky."

"So why did you stay?" Kotori questions, not being the only one wanting Eli to stay. The blonde shrugs.

"I wanted to stick around to see how the saga would end," she responds, knowing that that wasn't the only reason. "And I suppose because I hate school." The girls shared a short, forced laugh.

"So, when are you planning on leaving?" Maki twirls her hair.

"She plans on leaving five days from now," Nozomi answers punctually, as if it was a line she memorized.

"Why five days? Didn't she say she was supposed to leave last week?" Rin says.

"Some blizzard in the airport she was headed to," Nozomi responds in the same tone. Maybe she just wanted to get it off her chest, and couldn't find another way to get rid of it other than to do so as fast and as concise as possible.

"Why does she have to go back to Russia?" Honoka looks off to the side, her head still on the pillows. "I thought she was settling into Japan. Such a hassle." Half of the girls wanted to admonish Honoka for being so selfish, but pulled back noticing the condition she was in. Who knows what inner demons she had been wrestling in the hospital? After all, the bomb had finally cracked her shell open, and rather effectively as well.

"I'm...not sure if I'll be able to return," Eli finally says in a coarse whisper. "I had a big argument with my parents about...not coming back home when I should have." The girls understood, all except for Honoka.

"Tell 'em to piss off!"

"Honoka!"

"You're an adult aren't you? Paying for your tuition and the roof you live under." Seeing as how none of it was changing Eli's somber expression, Honoka pulls back in guilt, deciding not to speak further.

"I'll see you guys later," Eli says. Both she and Nozomi get up to leave, prompting the others to do the same.

"And leave me all alone?" Honoka tries to say jokingly, garnering no attention. "I-I'll be discharged from this hellhole...tomorrow..." she announces. "That's what the nurses said."

"So soon?" Kotori says. Honoka shrugs.

"The cuts were clean; no infections to fight off, shrapnel wasn't too deep."

"I hope you enjoyed your stay," Nozomi spits. Honoka stops, not sure how to respond. They all file out awkwardly, not another word exchanged afterwards.

* * *

Following the next day of school, Kotori told Maki, Rin and Hanayo that she caught Sakamaki watching her putting outdoor shoes on before exchanging smiles. Sakamaki left afterwards, her shoes already donned. Was she picking out which locker was Kotori's?

After hearing the story, the three second-years and Kotori agreed that it would be a good idea to trail this girl to find out where she lives or if she went back to her old school, just so they could have a better understanding of her. They each took to four of their own positions on the street, following Sakamaki with considerable distance without seeming too suspicious. If one girl got lost through a crowd or stuck waiting for a streetlight, they would easily catch up with one of the three other classmates. Sakamaki kept walking around town, opposite from the direction of the suburban area.

'Maybe she lives in an apartment in the city' the girls thought, continuing to silently stalk her. Sakamaki was either pretending to be or truly oblivious from being followed, as the girls continued to eagerly chase after her. The more they continued to walk in the setting sun, the closer the day turned to night. However, they found it strange that they weren't exiting the industrial sector of the city. Was this girl intentionally taking them in circles?

Then, finally, she turns off from the sidewalk into a fairly sized, white building. "Is that a high school?" Rin whispers. Getting away from the sidewalk crowd and the busy traffic, they see the sign at the front of the establishment, "SHION WOMEN INSTITUTE". "Should we keep following her?" Rin, Maki and Hanayo look to Kotori, the oldest in the group. Kotori returns a nod, keeping her eyes trained on the Shion student. Was she purposefully this easy to track?

Kotori crosses the street and waves the others to follow her as well. In front of the whole school sat a well-kept garden, spanning from one end of the establishment to the other. Paths and fountains were surrounded by rows of bushes, grass and flowers. How much of the budget was dedicated to keeping the front of the school clean?

As they take cover behind bushes, they see that the girl wasn't moving to the entrance. Instead, she continues to walk to the side of the school. "We're in the clear, come on!" Kotori was feeling particularly bold and kept advancing through the school garden, pushing through short fences of bushes and overstepping flower patches. The girls had no other choice than to follow her. They remain low, trying to avoid the eyes of any unsuspecting stragglers still walking outside after school hours. Kotori hesitates, realizing how deep into enemy territory she had wandered them all into. However, they had gone far enough to see Sakamaki enter what looked like double doors facing the ground.

"It's a tsunami shelter..." Maki whispers. The two doors close soundlessly. "Wait. Could that be their safe house?" Kotori, realizing that this was the end of the line for them, turns her neck to see if the coast is clear.

"Alright, I think that's enough. Let's get outta here before we're-" The two doors slam open, noticeably louder than before. The trio turn around and see the same girl come out of the staircase. Alongside her book bag, she held a black sports bag. In her other hand was a sub-machine gun. She held it so fearlessly, focusing more on the bag she held in her other hand rather than the lethal weapon. The way she stood made it apparent that she was struggling to sling the bag over her shoulder, but she maintained her balance. After a while, Sakamaki began approaching the three girls. "Come on, let's go!" The three girls sneak in the cover of the bushes and run away onto the street.

* * *

"You're not the people we thought you were!" Kotori turns around to see Hideko shout at them after school. Her two friends, and formerly the three biggest fans and supporters of µ's, were standing next to her.

"Delinquents don't belong to this school!" Mika yells, prompting heated nods of agreement from Hideko and Fumiko. Kotori balled her hands into fists and controlled herself. She was never one to lash out in anger, but to have somebody completely oblivious to the situation, someone who doesn't even know half of it stand on the soapbox and preach against them so condescendingly only made Kotori reconsider. "Umi's the only decent one out of all of you!" Kotori kept walking to the entrance of the school, using every ounce of strength within her to keep her head facing forward. "Really, they were supposed to be people the middle schoolers look up to, and now look at who they are..."

Fortunately for all of them, Kotori did nothing and met Rin and Hanayo a couple blocks down the street. "What's up, Kotori? You don't look happy," Rin says, spitting onto the sidewalk nonchalantly.

"Ugh, just...some old friends, was all," Kotori fumed, trying to forget it. "Anyways, we have to get everyone together. This has to be our man."

"She is, Kotori, without a doubt," Hanayo shifts her shoulder to keep her bag from falling. "We all saw that gun. Clear as day. You said you saw her eyeing you the other day, right?" Kotori nods. "Well? Doesn't that complete the checklist of suspicion?" Kotori agreed, but Rin was still a bit skeptical.

"What about the other transfers? We haven't looked into them and now we're gonna kill-" Kotori elbows Rin sharply in the side. "Ow..." Rin clears her throat and checks to see if anyone heard her gaffe. "We're gonna question her?"

"While that may be true, none of the other girls are near here. They're all from schools getting shut down by UTX," Hanayo reminds Rin, recalling the profiles she read from the folder Kotori provided. "And if it's one thing we've learned, schools only get shut down by UTX if they're not part of the...underground business." They near an intersection, standing together in a small cluster awaiting the green light. The look of doubt remained in Rin's eyes, but for a different reason.

"I just don't know if Honoka'll be up for it." Both Kotori and Hanayo stare at the sidewalk. People begin to walk past and around them as the light allowed them to cross the street.

"W-Well, who says she's the one to do it?" Kotori asks. "It might be...one of us..." The girls shudder inside, only wanting this day to be over. They continue to walk in silence, making their way to the hospital Honoka resided in. The girls recalled her saying that she would be discharged today, but she hadn't arrived at school as she promised. Eli and Nozomi had already told them through text that Honoka wasn't home. Honoka was protected in the hospital anyways. So what if UTX knew the obvious?

"Why...why are we doing this to ourselves?" Rin suddenly says. She looked down at both of her palms, which were both sweating. "I don't want to play this game anymore, Hanayo."

"None of us do," the blonde murmurs. "But we have to."

"Why? I understand Honoka's situation, but why...does she have to drag everyone else down with her?" Hanayo and Kotori knew that she was right, but everyone had their own reasons. "Umi was right. Everyone at school is right. It's too much. It's overboard..." They continued to stare at the sidewalk and step inside hospital. "I'm just...trying to rationalize..."

"It's okay, Rin," Kotori encourages, walking up to the elevator. "I have my reason." The second-year looks at Kotori pleadingly.

"I just want to know mine! Why am I putting myself through this?" The brunette places a sympathetic hand on her head, patting her gently.

"Trust me, you'll find it."

* * *

By the time they reached Honoka's room, she was already standing, dressed in her Otonokizaka uniform. Eli and Nozomi, who were there already, were also dressed in their old third-year attire. "Honoka? I thought you weren't discharged yet."

"I said today, didn't I?" she puts on her blazer and pats her side, as if she were confirming something's presence. "Doesn't matter. We gotta look sharp." Luckily, Rin, Hanayo and Kotori went straight to the hospital after school, not having the time to change. "Come on. Let's go."

Honoka led the way out of her room, as Eli and Nozomi followed. There were still some unexplained questions. Why are Eli and Nozomi in their Otonokizaka uniforms? Was Honoka going to do the job? Without any other choice, the Kotori and the two second-years trail behind Honoka.

They make the hurried walk back to the school from the hospital. The people around them were so innocent, so unsuspecting—girls their age eating a snack after school, people talking on the phone to relatives, a family going out to dinner. They lived such simple lives, but to µ's, it felt so far away. How could they be so close to them, yet still live in a completely other world?

During their hastened walk, Eli whips out her phone, calling someone on speed dial. "Maki?" The other second-year who had remained in school exchanged a few muffled words. Eli nods. "Got it. We're on our way." Eli hangs up and looks to the other girls. "Sakamaki's still at school." Honoka nods.

"Great. Come on, we're losing light." The sun began to settle behind some clouds as the stairs approaching Otonokizaka were visible beyond the crowd.

The girls climb to the top, remembering observing the school before when all of them were still idols. "Let's roll." Honoka stuffs her hand into a blazer pocket, crossing the street. "There she is. Right on time." As planned, only Honoka walked towards Sakamaki as the others split up and head different ways. Some hid behind the walls of the entrance, others ran to the blossom trees for cover, still others remained on the other side of the street.

Sakamaki was standing at the entrance path of the school, looking down on her phone. Just like every day before, it was just another part of her new Otonokizaka routine. Her green bow reminded Eli of when she had her third-year uniform, wearing it proudly like a badge of honor. 'That's in the past now.' Eli reminds herself that the present was more important as Honoka's fierce steps bring Sakamaki's attention.

"Hey! Aren't you Honoka Kousaka? Leader of µ's?" Sakamaki says in a tone reminiscent to that of Nozomi, slow and almost lacking concentration. "You know, I heard some nasty rumor's going around about your circle of friends..." Noticing that Sakamaki's put-on act was making no effect on the leader of µ's, she fades off her sentence. "I see." Sakamaki's eyes kept wandering to Honoka's eye patch, both of their expression's unchanging.

"I think you know why I'm here, Sakamaki." Honoka had grown a bit, and they were at about the same height. "I think I figured your little game out." Sakamaki chuckled. Was she trying to imitate Nozomi?

"Please, call me Chiduko. And no, that honor goes to the rest of your friends." Honoka was slightly taken aback. Did Chiduko know this was going to happen? "I think you know why _I_ _'m_ here." Honoka raises an eyebrow, or the only eyebrow she has left. The menacing scar that ran down her right eye and some of the hair singed off of her face did little to change Chiduko's demeanor.

"You...were sent here to kill me." Chiduko laughed this time.

"No. If I had been tasked to kill, you wouldn't be standing here." It was amazing how calm and collected the transfer student was. Honoka wanted to shoot her right then and there, but reminded herself that there were some things that needed to be cleared up.

"You were sent here, by Shion, were you not?" Honoka questions. Chiduko nods.

"Indeed I was."

"And if your task was not to kill me, what was it?" Honoka moved her eyes to see Chiduko's hand slowly inching towards her bag.

"Don't move." A cold, hard and stern voice came from behind Chiduko. Maki stood behind her, a gun aimed right at Chiduko's head. Chiduko sighs, not even a slight remnant of fear present.

"You know, if you shoot me, you'll hit Honoka as well." Blushing from embarrassment, Maki only shoved the pistol into Chiduko's head, knocking her lightly.

"Shut up." The other girls slowly came out from their hiding positions. Chiduko was soon surrounded by the rest of µ's, all of them armed. They formed a circle to surround Chiduko, but still kept a distance from her, knowing that she has the capability to try something.

"Well, I'm sure you might have figured out by now that I was the one that planted the bomb." Honoka only gritted her teeth in response. "And you were the one that blew it up." Knowing better, Honoka kept to the topic.

"But why...would you not kill me? Why only injure me?" To this, Chiduko turned her head to see the sunset slowly fade into twilight. Night was approaching faster than before. Perhaps it was all of the silent pauses they took in between their statements.

"Oh, Honoka. You're so blind," Chiduko says, letting the wind flip her hair. "No pun intended, hehe."

"What am I getting wrong?" The transfer squarely turns her head to face Honoka.

"I've been in the game for longer than you can imagine, but I'm still just a lowly soldier. A bottomfeeder. A button pusher."

"Button pusher?" Nozomi asks.

"They tell me to push a button, I push it. Being a leader in the disciplinary committee does not make me the leader here." She pauses, sighing longingly. "I wish I got to see the beach house Dad said he'd build." She was whispering to herself.

"So? Why didn't you kill me?"

"You still don't get it? It wasn't in my orders." Chiduko shrugs indifferently. "If they tell me to push the red button, I push the red button. Simple as that. I don't have authority over which button I push. You all tracked me down like I'm some big boss, but I'm really quite the opposite-"

"That wasn't the only reason you transferred into this school, right?" Honoka asks, not able to believe such a story. Chiduko spoke as if she were going to die, and she was right. µ's had planned to kill her tonight fearing their safety, but if this was all she had to do, was killing too much? Honoka took her hand out of her blazer, revealing her .380. If they didn't do this, UTX would shut down their school. Chiduko shakes her head, knowing that there was no talking out of it.

"End it. Quickly. I don't want my last memory to be of me crying." She looks to the moon, slowly rising from the horizon. "Mother, forgive me," she whispers, kneeling to the ground. Honoka brought the pistol out and pointed it at her forehead. Chiduko was sniffling not soon after. Honoka's hand shook. She tried to keep her composure, to prevent herself from crying as well. The breeze had subsided, and tears dripped onto the pavement, making noticeable slaps to the ground. Chiduko put both of her hands in front her, supporting herself.

Honoka looked up to the rest of the girls, seeing that they all have looked away. Chiduko was just a normal girl, just like them. She was roped into the mafia life, just like them. And now, she was under their mercy. What had led up to this point? No one else remained in the street and in the school, and the light of the moon provided just enough for them to see.

"God...I can't..." Honoka lowers the pistol, letting it hit her side. "I can't..." Honoka remembered the horrors of her comatose state. In her dreams, she had been running and running away from the truth, the truth of the afternoon she and Shion collided.

 _You shot her, Honoka._

 _You killed her, Honoka._

 _You're a cold-blooded murderer, Honoka._

"And you'll stay that way!" Rin spoke aloud. The girls turned to her, even Chiduko. Rin's pistol was out and pointed in between Chiduko's eyes. "You low-life, scum-sucking, bottom-feeding, good-for-nothing delinquent!" Rin pushed the pistol into Chiduko's forehead. Even Honoka thought this was too much. Her hand reaches to stop Rin, but notices that she was crying as well. "I figured it out long ago. Mafias are nothing but business, and blood is just the same." Rin's crying brought the other girls to tears as well. Hanayo covered her mouth. "Blood is just the same."

Chiduko's eyes gleamed with tears as moonlight was reflected from them. She smiles. "You're right, Rin. You're absolutely right. I learned it from the start, and I still believe it. Blood is nothing but business."

A crack rang in the air, echoing into the streets and into the endless night.

* * *

 **Sorry for the long chapter, but I'm glad that I wasn't limited to 2,000-3,000 words like before.**

 **And really, thanks for the reviews. They're seriously one of the only reasons why I keep writing the next chapter.**

 **Thanks anyways,  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	17. The Dark Side of the Moon

**YES I HAVE RETURNED.**

 **Sorry for being gone for like two months without notice. For the most part, I can get back to writing stories again, and what's a better way to get back into writing than a chapter of psychological trauma and death?**

 **Just be warned.**

* * *

The sounds of the city and rush hour traffic flowed into the apartment as it did every day. Nico shudders at the sounds of the hectic mundane life happening in the distance. It was always muffled by the window and blocked by thin walls, but it was only until recently that she feared it. Nico feared the people swarming like bees nearby. She feared everything, absolutely determined that the world was out to get her. The mafia was the only thing occupying her mind now. Even with midterms approaching, she could barely get any studying done. Every passing day, she could only look back to her friends and wonder what was happening to them, and what would happen to her.

"I'm an adult now," Nico repeats, the mantra now ingrained into her brain. No matter how many times she denies it, she knows she's not safe. It didn't matter how old she was, or how far apart she was from them; Nico, much like everyone else in µ's, was a member of the family. She could cut ties with them as much as she likes, but her connection in the past is undeniable.

"I'm responsible for my own family. For the Yazawas. µ's disbanded and-" She looks up from the stove she was cooking on, having heard the familiar click of her front door. "Cotarou?!" she calls, already knowing the culprit without having to check. "Get back in here! I told you not to go outside!"

"But Onee-chan, there's monsters in here!" he calls back. Nico grumbles tiredly.

"Cotarou, I'm giving you three-" The door clicks again, signalling its close. Nico sighs. She hated raising her voice on her own siblings, but her mind was too stressed to think rationally.

'I should replace that lock when I get the chance...' she thinks. Already behind on rent, Nico worried she wouldn't be able to even guarantee something like home security. The concept of being unsafe felt so foreign to her. Security was always a given, always present without asking for it—her trusty neighbors, the security guard hanging around at the front entrance, the amount of people she could hide in on the street. The thought of it all being meaningless really struck her.

"Onee-chan...something's burning..." Cocoro, the second oldest sister, tugs on Nico's sleeve. Nico looks down, seeing that whatever she was cooking on the pan had become unrecognizable ash. Cursing under her breath, she immediately turns off the burner and moves the pan away from the it. The rest of her siblings now filed into the kitchen. "Are...you okay, Onee-chan?" Nico nods her head, coughing and waving away the smoke. It had been months now since the smoke detector batteries were replaced, shoved into the "do it when you're free" list like many other responsibilities.

'I guess the plus side is that we're not being showered right now...'

"I'm...fine...we have leftovers anyways..." Her siblings exchanged worried glances. Up until this point, Nico had been distant to them, only there when she made meals, and always locking herself in her room. They could tell that Nico was hiding something. She wasn't like when she was the apparent center of µ's—always cheery, always smiling, always...Nico. Her presently cold and blank expression kept her state of mind no secret.

Nico lied to them everyday, and she wasn't the only one that knew that. "Everything's fine." The words felt heavy on her tongue, yet so empty and meaningless, having lost their value after repeating it so many times. Nico debated whether or not she should confess to her siblings why she was acting the way she was. It would certainly remove the weight of keeping such a secret, but Nico risks forcing the rest of her siblings to be just as afraid, if not more afraid, than Nico.

"You're spacing out, Onee-chan..." Cocoro whispers. Nico shakes her head back to the present.

"Curry again?" Cocoa whines, earning a hard glare from her eldest sister. The former cowers and looks down at the floor.

'Am I even qualified to be an older sister?' Nico thinks to herself. Her mind conflicted between her irresponsibility and the fear of the mafia. She wasn't a part of the mafia, right? She mentally shook her head. 'Then why am I so damn scared of my life?' If anything, Nico wanted to avoid her friends. Her meeting with them in the cafe was the last contact she's had with them, and they weren't doing a good job hiding how much they struggled to hold themselves together. 'What do I do?'

"Onee-chan, I'm tired of curry too!" Cotarou almost yells. Nico wakes up from her mental slumber again and faces her brother.

"How about you try cooking then?!" Nico shouts back.

'Nico, stop it.' However, Cotarou's usually serene and tranquil expession only turned into sizzling rage.

"Huh? You have any idea what it's like to balance a job and school at the same time?!"

'Nico, this isn't who you are!' Cocoro and Cocoa exchange worried glances before staring at their feet, tears welling in their eyes.

"To have something like this be your complaint? Really?"

'Nico, wake up already!'

"You're not Onee-chan! Onee-chan doesn't talk like that! Give back Onee-chan, you monster!" Cotarou runs off to the living room, leaving Cocoro and Cocoa with Nico in the kitchen. The two younger sisters stood defensively, awaiting a punishment of their own. When Nico only remained silent, they both left without a word, back into the living room where they were before.

"A monster..." Nico whispers, trying out her new title. It wasn't playfully childish, or said to be silly. It felt real, cutting deep into her. A monster? What kind of a sister had she become to her siblings? If that's how Cotarou thought about her, what about the other two?

The door clicks again, snapping Nico back to reality for the third time. The rest of her siblings had gone back to whatever they were doing, waiting for Nico to warm up the curry she said would be their dinner. "Cotarou! I already told you-" Instead of Cotarou's protests, Nico heard a staccato of heavy footsteps barge into the room.

'That's not Cotarou...' Nico rushes into the living room, greeted by a loud gunshot. Temporarily blinded by the flash, she glances at the source. Even with the lights on, Nico only identified three silhouettes that had entered the apartment. 'The damn lock!' When her eyes returned to their senses, she turned to see Cocoa on the ground in a strange position. 'Why is she contorted like that?' Nico thinks, too pumped with adrenaline to think of what had just happened.

"Cocoa?!" Nico's mind was dizzy, but she made an attempt to run to her sister. Nico could barely hear anything through the ringing she ignored.

"ONEE-CHAN!" Another gunshot shakes the apartment, this time with something moist hitting Nico's arm. Looking for the source of the scream, she finds Cocoro slumped against the wall opposite to the door. What the hell was happening?

Nico shook her head.

"COCORO!" Nico whirls around, facing the three gunmen before scrambling away. Were they...smiling?

Someone was left. Someone was left for Nico to defend. Her mind drew a blank, trying to think of their name.

"C-Cotarou...Cotarou!" Nico jumps to her feet, continuing to stumble away from the gunmen. "...Cotarou?" Her brother was leaned against the kitchen wall, shivering. His eyes, now flooding with tears, meet Nico's. "C-Come here, Cotarou, Onee-chan will protect you." The boy shook his head adamantly.

The footsteps were calmly making their way to the kitchen. In a flash of thought, Nico opens a random drawer. After clattering around, she unsheathes the biggest kitchen knife she had. The blade was a little shorter than the length of her forearm. "G-Get behind me, Cotarou..."

"No, you're not Nico!" Nico's heart broke into pieces.

"This is serious, Cotarou!" Cotarou shook his head even faster, but he wasn't looking at Nico. He was looking at her arm. Wondering what he could be staring at, Nico glances down at the knife she held and the blood-spattered arm that held it.

She slowly looks back at her brother. "Come on, Cotarou, I won't hurt you..."

"You killed them...you...d-did it!"

"Cotarou...no...!"

"How could my real Onee-chan let me die...?" A pop rang through the apartment one more time. The gunmen had reached the kitchen doorway before Nico even noticed. She was too late. Cotarou was silenced, falling to the floor from his crouching position.

"Thanks for making this easy, Nico-nii." The smug voice startles Nico. She turns too quickly, causing her to fall to the floor. "Almost too easy." They tossed the pistol they held, landing in Nico's hands, snickering as they exited the apartment. The hinges of the closing front door echoed in her head. Nico's ruby red eyes shook as the ringing in her ears began to subside, and the sounds of the city and the rush hour traffic return.

* * *

Nico had been sitting for almost an hour in her spot, remaining still. She had stopped shivering, but her mind was still rattling. The whole world had left Nico behind, and she was trying to catch up. With the gun still in her hand, she shakily stands, doubling over on the now cold stove to gain her balance. She knew very well what had happened. She was there to experience it, there to see it for herself, but now, it was a matter of putting the pieces together.

She tried desperately to recollect her thoughts. "My...brother...and si-sisters are..." She couldn't bear to utter the word, and leaned over to vomit.

"G-God...what...wh...why..?"

Nico composes herself with some deep breaths. "I...I have to...clean this up..." She glances over sickeningly at the bodies left on the floor. And, without thinking, her mind switched back to responsibility mode, ignoring the magnitude of the situation. "The garbage bags...are over here..." Reaching into a cupboard, she pulls out three black plastic bags. "...th-the gloves...are in the shelf..."

She dons a pair of latex gloves before walking up to her siblings, bags in hand. Her mind was slowly calming down, accepting reality. No one would believe her story. Three armed schoolgirls waltz into her apartment and brutally end the lives of her siblings? No sane person would be willing to agree with that, and Nico knew it. She had no choice but to conceal it. There was no way she was framing anyone, no way she could bring this up to a court system and get the justice she deserved. 'My prints are everywhere...' she thinks. 'What'll I do, what'll I do, what'll I do...?'

Nico cries painfully before returning back to earth. While she had been out and about this whole time, she was paying no attention to her surroundings. Quieting herself and looking around, she finds that she was in the middle of a park, late at night. "Wh-Where am I?" Nico was all alone. Her right hand, gloved like the left, held a shovel. She looks down and sees three patches of dirt in front of her, all in a line. The sounds of the night bugs clicking in the night were louder than Nico had remembered it.

Her eyes land on a playground not twenty feet away. A flashbacks hit her. She and her siblings, and her mother, before leaving Tokyo—She could see them so vividly. The sky was a bright blue, an exaggerated type of blue, the kind one would only see in a dream, and the sun streamed so gently yet so brightly onto them all. Nico could see herself playing with her own siblings, digging in the sandbox, chasing each other around. Her eyes welled with tears. She forgot that she held these memories so dearly to her, as if it were a family heirloom she took out only on rare occasions to admire.

"M-Mother..." Nico reaches out her hand. The dream snaps away as the sound of the wooden shovel handle clanks on the asphalt walkway. Nico jumped at the sudden crack. Staring down at the wood, then at the three patches of dirt, she realizes that she had just buried something. Or rather, three things.

She looks around to see if any witnesses saw what she had done. As she moved her head and found that the coast was clear for now, she realized her hair wasn't in pigtails. Nico glances at the surrounding area to look for her ribbons before realizing that she must have buried them as well.

Not wanting to put any more images in her head, she picks up the shovel and starts to walk home, but stops. An epiphany strikes her. 'Justice can't be served by others. Therefore, I must do it myself.' Nico smiles. 'And, the one responsible for this incident was the mafia. And the one responsible for bringing the mafia to me was Honoka. Therefore, I must bring justice to Honoka.' Nico's smile widens, imagining how she would avenge her three siblings.

'I know, I'll kill her. I'll kill her whole family. All of the Kousakas. I'll burn down their store. I'll burn down her home, and then...I'll burn down Otonokizaka.' She remembers the laughter she heard over the phone when µ's contacted them. It was innocent and forced at first. Slowly, the walls of fear lowered, the gates of inhibition weakening and breaking apart, before deconstructing the true nature hidden within. She felt it, she felt the walls of fear herself. She felt them slowly crumble away, leaving nothing but her true emotion.

'Maybe I can even get the rest of µ's as a bonus.'

"Honoka." She grunted it at first, forcing the word up her throat. "Honoka..." Her eyebrows furrow. "Honoka!" Nico turns around and walks in the direction away from her house and instead to Honoka's place. If she's avenging her siblings, it was now. Her steps of resolve resonate in the emptiness of the night sky.

"HONOKA!"

* * *

Nico had wandered into a busy part of the city, the section of Tokyo that never slept. Her gloves were still on, and the shovel was still in her right hand, but she didn't care. The flashing lights, the blaring traffic and the occupied sidewalks did nothing to affect her attitude. Nico almost laughed. One of the only times she went to Honoka's place was to check up on her, namely when she had the accident during that one live. Now she had returned to undo that favor.

Nico could've skipped down the street. She felt so at peace with herself, having found her resolve. She didn't have to be worry about tomorrow. She didn't even have to worry about tonight. All she knew is that, if she died doing what she was about to do, so be it.

Nico had found herself.

The world quieted around her as she made her way to the alleyway that led to Honoka's store and home. However, some older voices forced Nico back around the corner. She resorted to peeking from behind the corner. Was someone with Honoka? "Yeah. We'll be back in a few days!" someone says. Something clicks in Nico's head.

'Is that Elicchi?' the eldest former third-year thinks, only slinking further away from the light emanating from within the Kousaka candy shop.

"Alright, be careful out there Honoka!" Nico hears the voice of Honoka's mother and wondered if she knew anything about what her daughter was doing. The sliding door closes and Honoka and Eli begin walking towards Nico. Thinking quickly, Nico hides herself behind some thick bushes.

'Where are they going?'

The two walk past Nico, oblivious to her presence. No words were exchanged as they strolled with both hands in their pockets. The streets were now empty, for Honoka lived in a quieter neighborhood close to Tokyo. Nico didn't care if she got caught avenging her siblings, but the presence of Eli certainly made it difficult to act. She decides to continue following the pair, wondering where they were headed.

'It's a weekend, right?' Nico smirks at her inability to remember. Just how lost was she in the world to not even know the day of the week?

Instead of taking Nico to a dark, empty alleyway like any cliche movie would have, they only wandered into a busier part of town. It wasn't long before they reached a train station, where the rest of µ's, with the ever-present exception of Umi, was already waiting. Their introductions were quiet and discreet, almost as if they were business partners rather than close friends. Nico had maintained her distance and ditched her shovel when she noticed that it was bringing attention to her. A burial tool, now cast aside like garbage. Nico shuddered at how little she felt the significance of it.

"About time. Train's about to arrive." Nico couldn't see it, but she could have sworn that was Rin's voice. Honoka scoffed, but remained silent afterward.

"Aqours hasn't been too picky about time, but we probably shouldn't keep them waiting," Nozomi had said.

Honoka and Eli weren't in earshot, but she could tell that the next train was their's, judging by how they checked the time and stood up. They were traveling light; only half of them had bags to carry. Were they reuniting? 'And they didn't invite me?' Nico thinks, inconspicuously getting on the train a distance away. It was surprising how having her hair down and her clothes partially scuffled made her look so normal. Even though Nico only got a glance of the map, it looked like the route would be taking them south. Why would the girls be interested in moving farther into the countryside?

Shaking it off, she lays low. There's no point spoiling her presence here.

* * *

 **Yeah uh, sorry again for ditching my stories for like two months without notice, but there were some things that had to be done.**

 **Even though school is starting up soon, I should be able to work on stories now that I have the motivation to do so.  
**

 **Thanks anyways!  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


	18. Brink of Battle

With bags under her eyes and the strength long gone from her legs, Nico trailed behind the group of seven into an unfamiliar town. The name didn't matter. In fact, nothing around her seemed to matter. All Nico cared about was exacting her revenge, no matter where her target managed to wander. Vengeance. That word that soured her soul, yet kindled a strange desire. As much as she hated such barbarism, she lusted after it. It simply felt...appropriate, and she couldn't explain why. She looked the girls up and down as they inconspicuously made their way down the sidewalk. The town was very quiet, much less than what Nico was used to.

"It's getting dark fast," Rin muses, watching the sun approach the horizon. They spent the entire day walking around town, getting themselves situated in the new environment. Rin doesn't even bother glancing around before taking out her MPK5, checking it over and inspecting it for damage. "Should we start heading to the mission area now?"

"You're too tense, Rin," Honoka grumbles gruffly, kicking a rock stiffly down the sidewalk. "We'll get there in time. Hanayo, progress?" While they walked, Hanayo lagged behind, remaining at the rear of the posse. She was fiddling with something in her hands, but Nico couldn't tell what it was.

"Just wonderful..." the dirty blonde responded, not looking up from what she held. Nico raised her eyebrows. Hanayo's sarcastic tone was incredibly uncharacteristic. The university student was intrigued by how different her friends had become in such a short amount of time.

'So she finally grew a pair, huh?' Nico smirks, keeping herself behind a street corner.

"In any case, we better keep that safe," Maki had said it. While she wasn't visible from Nico's angle, Nico could hear the inflection in Maki's voice. "You sure you know how to handle that?" Nico successfully foresaw twirling her hair with a finger.

Hanayo exhales with an edge of annoyance. "We'll be fine. You're up there. If this goes off, Nozomi and Eli'll be the ones that need to worry." Half of the group chuckled darkly, the other half remained silent. "You worry about you."

"Who knows what could go wrong?"

"And who cares?" Honoka interjects and sighs, admiring the afterglow painting the coastal sky like a work of art. "This isn't our first day. No need to be scared, now." Honoka spits at the road. She noted that the sunset by the sea had a similar charm to the ones in Tokyo. The waves, regardless of the tide, continued to crash without a care, just as much as traffic seemed to bustle endlessly regardless of the hour.

"You remember. Everyone remembers." Somberness besets them all. Nico was clearly missing a reference. "So stop complaining. Goes for everyone."

* * *

Out of nowhere, a deafening motorcycle packed with three boys rode up alongside the bunch. They looked to be in good spirits, almost menacingly so. "You ladies all new around town?" The group of eight cast them non-cooperative glances. "Hm?"

"Got here today," Eli mumbles. "What do you want?" The driver puts up a sardonic expression of defense.

"Hey, easy, easy." He laughs. "Was just wondering where a group of uh..."

"Ravishing!" One pipes up.

"Ravishing, ladies as yourselves, would want out of this hellhole?" Already tired from meandering around town, the girls roll their eyes. "Maybe hoping to get-"

"Look, we're waiting for someone, alright?" Nozomi says, her tone of exhaustion betraying her supposed politeness. The two riding the middle and the back scoff as the driver looks Nozomi up and down.

"Goodness me, and who would that lucky gentleman be?" µ's begins to give him heated expressions of disgust, but he didn't seem to mind. "It's getting awfully dark, why don't you all come over to-"

"Take a hint, will you?!" In a flash of insurmountable rage, Rin takes out her weapon and aims it squarely at them. Their eyes all widen simultaneously. "If you didn't get it through your thick skulls, we're telling you to piss off!" Honoka nonchalantly walks over and lowers Rin's arm with her own.

"Settle down, Rin, settle down." The one-eyed leader chuckles as she steps in front of µ's and faces the street. "Run along now. I don't think you know what you're getting yourselves into."

The boys, looking especially shaken by Rin's sudden outburst, look at the rest of the girls. Panning from Honoka's eyepatch, the second-years and the now university students, they saw that all of the girls were giving them a mixture of aggravation and weariness, all with a collective atmosphere of dread. The driver revs up his engine and dashes off without hesitation, not even looking back as they speed out of their sight. Rin, who still had her MPK5 out, grinned delightedly at herself.

"You see that? You see what I did?" her chartreuse eyes lit up with excitement, proud of herself and her ability to express her influence. She looked to the others for approval, some of them even returning insincere smiles. "Honoka! This power is what I-"

Honoka uses the back of her hand to slap Rin across the face with unprecedented force. The others, including Nico, jumped in surprise at the sudden move. Seconds later, Rin looks up, dropping her weapon. The second-year returned a look of betrayal and shock, unable to believe what Honoka just did. The tense silence on the street continued as all eyes were on Honoka.

"Don't ever do that again."

"But Hono-"

"Do you have any idea what could have happened?!" Honoka yells, causing Rin to cower further. The latter winces as she closes her eyes and slowly crouches down to pick up her gun. Honoka steps on it, causing the others to jump again in surprise. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" The girls all emitted an aura of fear. Was this what Honoka was really like? Rin nearly falls in surprise, looking up to Honoka's one, menacing eye. The leader enunciated every few words, speaking quieter in what felt like intentionally repressed rage. "Do you have any idea what could have come as a result of your actions?"

Rin shakes her head, moving as little as possible. "N-no." Eli steps forward.

"Leave her alone, will you?" The blonde's face was hardened, not being able to stand Rin being talked down like this. "All she did was point-"

"All she did was what?" Honoka stepped up. Their heights were not that far off, and so they looked each other in the eye. "Who knows who those men were? You think they _could've_ been plants from other schools? You think we didn't just give away our presence, give away our position? What if they're connected to another Yakuza, starting a gang war we didn't even see coming? Tell me what she did. Tell me what she could've started!"

The girls couldn't believe what they were witnessing. The silence somehow got quieter, all the other girls feeling awkward for simply standing by it all. Eli remains silent as well, stepping back and allowing Honoka to walk forward. The leader surveys the group, clearing her throat. "We don't play with our power." She walks forward, walking to the front of the group. Rin gulps, shamefully picking up her weapon. Perhaps Honoka wasn't as indifferent as she seemed.

"It's like playing tennis with a hand grenade. This isn't a game." A few seconds of silence and stillness follow as the lights of the street lit up in pairs, running down the avenue as the moon reflects off the ocean surface. "...we should get going." Honoka walks forward, prompting the rest to follow.

The girls exchange glances with each other. Some, like Kotori, were particularly fearful, and expressive about it. Others, like Hanayo, felt uneasy, and gauged the reactions of everyone else to see if others matched their thoughts. Nico, on the other hand, stayed in the shadows. Even though she was part of the circle, she was perfectly fine being a spectator.

* * *

 _11:54_

Half an hour had passed, and by now, the girls had entered the forest meant to be the area of interest. Nico watched from as far of a distance as she can while keeping the girls in sight. She might be able to get Honoka alone, especially with all of the trees and foliage that could obscure long range vision. "From what I can piece together, there's a trade deal with some other school here that µ's is looking after..." Nico whispers to herself an exposition, not bothering to imagine why they were doing it in the first place. To her, everything leading up to this point had practically been a blur.

"A dealer...and a buying school. Otonokizaka is acting as some...bodyguard." She chuckles as she envisions Honoka's last moments, something her mind had the luxury of imagining. "I'll kill her the moment I get an opportunity." Nico lays low, smiling to herself in empty eagerness as she crawls closer to the congregation.

Several hundred meters away was the clearing in the forest in which the trade deal was to take place, currently occupied by Aqours. All nine members stood in the grassy opening, overlooking a large section of the ocean beyond, and some of the city lights in the distance. In the day, this would have be a beautiful place to have lunch with friends. In the night, they could have lied down on the ground and stared up at the stars.

Honoka, Rin, Eli and Maki all hid a ways away from the clearing's perimeter, crouching behind some thick bushes and trees. They were supposed to be the spearhead of the defense, staying right beside the unarmed Aqours to watch over them. Aqours had warned µ's beforehand that the dealers would most likely bring some backup, so µ's prepared accordingly. Their guns were at the ready, and their legs were tense, waiting to spring into action whenever necessary.

Maki could have sworn that she saw an unidentified shadow deep in the forest, wishing to pursue it. Honoka, however, spoke before she could. "Remember, keep them all alive if you can. Top priorities are Chika, and that tall blonde girl with the braided crown." The other girls accompanying Honoka obediently nodded, the thought of Honoka stepping against them like she did with Rin was still salient in their heads.

"Why are they unarmed? Wouldn't they be fine on their own if they just had guns?" Eli cranes her neck to scout the distance as she asks Honoka.

"The dealers specifically wanted Aqours unarmed, to show that they could be trusted. I highly doubt the dealers will return the favor." The leader responds, checking her weapon to ensure its functionality.

µ's takes a deep breath and mentally prepares themselves. All with bated breath, they watched the nine Uranohoshi girls standing in the moonlight, only recognizing You, Chika and Ruby. µ's was just as, if not more, nervous than Aqours.

The moment approached.

 _11:55_

Hanayo, Kotori and Nozomi stalked the outside of the forest, just by the dark and empty roadside. They were in charge of observing the dealers as they entered the scene, as appointed by Honoka. "They're here," Nozomi peeks over an indentation of earth, using binoculars to spot her targets. She could somewhat make out the outline of their clothes as they stepped in front of the moonlit reflection of the water. "Those uniforms...are the guards from...some other school?" She looks away momentarily and whispers, "Hanayo, you ready?" The blonde looks up, shaking heavily. Through nearly teary eyes and a wavering smile, Hanayo nods.

"Hanayo, come on. You made it, so you know how to work the thing. Stick with us, alright?" Nozomi goes back to relocating her targets. "I see...three cars." The cars had exited the road and entered the forest using a narrow path. Stray branches and vines wormed their way in front of them as they drove in single file. Engines shut off as students slowly made their way out of the vehicles. "Four in the first, four in the second...one in the third..."

Nozomi moved her binoculars meticulously to trace their movements. The silhouettes were barely recognizable under the forest shadow and the cloak of night, but she could see that they were taking out packages from the third car. "Must be the cargo," she mutters to herself. Two individuals from the second car ran into the forest, most likely to scout it out.

"Lost sight of two of them. Looks like we better get moving." Nozomi puts down her binoculars and urges the others to follow her. Staying as close to the road as possible, she leads her group near the cars.

 _11:56_

"They only left a guard for all three cars," Kotori observes, watching cautiously from behind a tree.

"That means the rest rolled out with the packages." Nozomi walks around past a patch of forest that led to the caravan. Outside was a tall student leaning against the first vehicle. She had an assault rifle strapped around her, and had leaned her head against the window on one of the cars. Who knew they would spot someone their age so casually with a weapon like that?

"We can't risk going loud. Just plant it, Hanayo," Nozomi whispers, remaining prone and motionless in a patch of tall grass. Kotori decides to get a better look and crawls forward, sprawling on some bushes. The groggy guard looks up, hearing the sudden noise.

"No, no, Hanayo can't-"

"Calm down, Kotori, calm down. Stay as still as possible," Nozomi addresses Kotori before glancing back to Hanayo. "Go!"

Giving a hurried nod, Hanayo crawls to the line of vehicles. She had practiced this procedure a million times with a dummy device in one of the μ's cars. Why did she feel so shaky now? 'It's the circumstances,' she thought. But it was something more than that. Her hands moved fluidly, yet her mind rattled with an unanswered question. 'This is justified. This is so they don't get away. This is for µ's.' But her rationalizations didn't get through her head at all. Wires connected, circuits hung loose and the trap was finally set within the car's brake pads as Hanayo finished up.

All of a sudden, the dirt on the other side of the car scuffles. Hanayo freezes. 'Footsteps' she thinks. After finalizing her work, she crawls down and rolls over, looking under the car. The designated car guard was making their way around to her side. In a panic, Hanayo scrambles beneath the car's undercarriage as quietly as she could, watching each overbearing footstep...

 _11:57_

In the clearing, the dealers and their escorts approach into the clearing. The senders nod to their recipients, with the two dealers in front and the two guards behind. Two more escorts stood alongside the dealers as well, each holding two suitcases; the supposed cargo. "Takami." Chika, at the front of Aqours, steps forward.

"Sarah."

"We have them, as promised." The two escorts carrying the cases step forward. The group of µ's hiding behind the bushes look at each other.

"Are those the stolen cases?" Rin whispers. Honoka nods dismissively and keeps her eyes on the interaction.

"Show me," You steps forward to join Chika, looking the cases up and down. Even in the moonlight, Honoka couldn't help but note how familiar those particular cases looked—the leather, the handle, the ragged corners...

A crimson red Aqours girl takes a case from an escort and opens it, revealing its contents. While no one from µ's could identify what was inside, You then says, "And these are the ones from Shion?"

The dealer to the left nods conceitedly. "Right from them!" The origin was growing more and more evident to µ's. "Not sure how they got their hands on such a thing. Would be an awful shame for someone else to pawn it off instead of us, right?" She laughs wholeheartedly, earning suspicious glances from the rest of Aqours. The hard stares did nothing to affect her demeanor, even after acknowledging them. "Joking, of course."

"Now, you remember the contingencies?" the first girl says, prompting You to sigh.

"Of course we did. We pulled out all units from southern Tokyo," the brunette glances at the bay, the white reflection of the moon shining clearly on the water. Something wasn't right. "And, you promise to let us have a go at Shinonome?" The second girl smirks. "What's that look for, Leah?" The shorter girl looked down on You, despite clearly lacking the height advantage.

"How can we be so sure that you'll pull out every unit in the southern quadrant?"

"Come on, we're not joking. We really will pull all of our sou-" Leah steps forward into Chika's face, both fiercely and fearlessly staring into each others' eyes. Leah's face remained stoic and proud, an everlasting bulwark. Instead of a strong, resistant expression, her sister crosses her arms and smugly half-smiles at Chika and You.

"Yeah, like the one time you promised to work _with_ us?"

 _11:58_

The guard had reached Hanayo's side of the car, but the latter wasn't there. Hanayo curled up her legs into a fetal position, remaining underneath the vehicle. While her breathing remained heavy, she kept it as silent as she could, watching with shivering eyes the feet that stood in attention. Hanayo averts her gaze to the other side of the car. Maybe she can sneak out that way...

She glances over and sees Kotori popping out of a bush, motioning for Hanayo to follow her as quickly as possible, which the Hanayo eagerly does.

They breathe a sigh of relief as they exit the guard's general field of vision, all stalking the scene as a group. "You sure it'll work?" Nozomi nudges Hanayo, who returns a slight, but insecure nod. "Guess we'll see." Nozomi finds a spot behind the clearing. It was at the cusp of a hill, meaning the escorts would have to turn around and look down to notice them. Nozomi lays out her palm, parallel to the ground to indicate that they were to hunker down here and watch what the rear guards were up to.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the familiar voice of Chika Takami reached the second group, but they sounded unsure; indicative of dishonesty.

"Don't think we didn't see your little housewarming party with µ's." While Nozomi, Hanayo and Kotori couldn't see it, Sarah had started to pace slowly with her hands behind her back, overlooking the ocean visible from their height. "Now, we would've stopped caring there if that had been the only thing you've done."

"What do you mean?" You says, a tinge of hostility in her voice that Sarah could easily detect. In response, Sarah smiles, then chuckles before shaking her head.

"You know what I mean."

A lighter voice spoke up. "That stuff was supposed to go to us. Directly to us. Would've had it past customs by last week if you had." A silence ensued, making it obvious that Leah had struck a nerve. "But for some reason, you broke our promise. You decided to hand it off to someone else to do the job." Leah was being slow on purpose, the girls concluded, just to mess with them psychologically—to have a younger girl humiliate them all, to humiliate Aqours.

"So what? So what if it had an extra step to get through?" You spoke a little more with confidence to cover up her past insecurity, even though it was built entirely on shaky ground. "...they would've brought it to you anyway!" To this, Leah and Sarah laughed rather loudly.

"You really, haha, are rather sweet, aren't you?" Sarah taunts, sprinkling chuckles in her sentences for added effect. As unfazed as Aqours wished to be, they caught themselves slowly taking the bait they know was designed for them. "Getting your fledgling, community gangsters a little help in taking down UTX's machine?" Even though Aqours remained unchanged and silent, Leah and Sarah knew they were right. "Get real."

"What? What do you want from us? We said we'd pull our territory from the south!" While Hanayo wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings, she did notice something about the guard to the right. The girl was very gingerly moving her arms up, her weapon in her hands. Immediately noticing what this could mean, Hanayo nudges Nozomi. The university student took something out of her pocket, nodding to Hanayo.

 _11:59_

Rin, who was adjacent to Eli behind a bush, elbows the Russian, motioning to a guard that was moving her rifle suspiciously. While the guard's body didn't move, her hands did. Eli gets Honoka's attention, but it looks like Honoka understood as well. "You thought we could trust you?" Sarah continues, menacingly pacing back to her place. "You know, we don't ask for a second favor, once we are refused the first."

'Was this UTX's plan?' Honoka thinks to herself. 'Maybe they want to incite a conflict and pin it on Aqours?' She shakes her head. 'There has to be a reason that this was set up in a forest. A remote one, at that. But Aqours can't be this weak. How is this getting to Chika's head? Come on, focus on the mission, for Christ's sake!'

"We kill the dealers if they try something, right?" Maki whispers to Honoka, who nods in reply. Honoka's one eye was plastered to the scene, carefully watching the scene unfold, yet keeping tabs on the guards' movements.

"...what do you want from us?" Chika grumbles reluctantly, knowing that they've lost. They should've foreseen someone catching them in the act of conspiracy. Aqours looked at Chika in worry. How could their trusted leader have failed to prepare for such a setback? Aqours was in big trouble, and they knew it.

"Hmph. Nothing important from you, _coward_." In a surge of anger, Chika steps forward. Honoka's eye widens, hands immediately moving for her weapon as her stare meets the guard's quick aim. In a surge of anger, Chika steps forward.

'Dammit, no!'

"I am _not_ a-!" Something popped in the air as the forest momentarily was lit up with a flash.

The gunshot came from the right guard at the front. Aqours all slowly turned to a comrade with caramel brown hair. She was hit squarely in the forehead, which was behind Chika's, and had a clean wound in it. A small trickle dripped down from it as her eyes attempted to look at the pain. The congregation went dead silent for a second before she collapses, her eyes still open.

* * *

 **A looooong hiatus deserves a long chapter of return!  
**

 **Who knows how long I've been neglecting this story now. Frankly, I don't wanna know. I'm just going to move on and hope I can finish this with a sufficiently satisfying conclusion.**

 **Thanks anyways,  
-DWalkthroughGuy**


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